JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Consultant: State cannot continue to provide

hand-outs

by

Anna-Lisa Paul
1773 days ago
20200920

As the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic con­tin­ues to rage across the world with no sign of slow­ing down, a lo­cal be­hav­iour­al change con­sul­tant says the State can­not con­tin­ue to pro­vide hand-outs to cit­i­zens with­out any pro­duc­tiv­i­ty in ex­change.

Claim­ing there is an ur­gent need for the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices to do ex­act­ly what its’ name says, Franklyn Dol­ly said greater ef­forts must be made to de­vel­op the skills and tal­ents of the cit­i­zens of this coun­try.

He said, “Just giv­ing mon­ey to main­tain peo­ple and there is no pro­duc­tiv­i­ty out of it, is mon­ey that has to be spent every month and I do not think the State has that kind of funds to con­tin­ue do­ing this.”

Claim­ing that every­one con­tributed in some way to the col­lec­tion of tax­es when they pay Val­ue Added Tax, he sug­gest­ed cer­tain ar­eas of the econ­o­my could be ex­pand­ed to in­clude per­sons who are cur­rent­ly un­em­ployed.

Cit­ing agri­cul­ture as one of the main sec­tors that would ben­e­fit from such an arrange­ment, Dol­ly ex­plained, “All of these peo­ple who are able-bod­ied, could be placed in­to some­thing where they can be pro­duc­tive. With COVID-19 and the need for so­cial dis­tanc­ing, agri­cul­ture al­lows for this and al­so for them to pro­duce a good which will go to­wards feed­ing the com­mu­ni­ty and na­tion by ex­ten­sion.”

Oth­ers, he said could be ab­sorbed in the man­u­fac­tur­ing and pro­duc­tion sec­tors, as they are taught can­ning and pre­serv­ing fruits and veg­eta­bles, while the craft in­dus­try could al­so be tapped in­to.

Ad­vo­cat­ing for a psy­cho­log­i­cal change across so­ci­ety, Dol­ly said cit­i­zens need­ed to stop think­ing that some­one must em­ploy them, but rather that they pos­sess skills they are sell­ing to an em­ploy­er.

He said, “That is the new psy­chol­o­gy per­sons must have. Stop think­ing that af­ter I leave school, some­one must em­ploy me…no. You have to think…I have cer­tain skills and knowl­edge that I can sell or rent.”

Con­firm­ing her min­istry had al­ready be­gun this trans­for­ma­tion via the Sow­ing Em­pow­er­ment through En­tre­pre­neur­ial De­vel­op­ment (SEED) Pro­gramme, So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices Min­is­ter Don­na Cox re­vealed that dur­ing the pan­dem­ic pe­ri­od of March 16 to present – a to­tal of 23 SEED grants to­talling $319,538.89, were award­ed to per­sons.

The SEED grant pro­vides fund­ing of up to $15,000 for ap­proved start-ups in var­i­ous sec­tors in­clud­ing agri­cul­ture, food and bev­er­age, per­son­al care ser­vices/prod­ucts, print­ing and pack­ag­ing as well as, re­tail ser­vices.

Pre­sent­ing com­par­a­tive fig­ures for the pe­ri­od March to Au­gust 2019 as she said 112 ap­pli­ca­tions had been re­ceived; Cox said 27 ap­pli­ca­tions were re­ceived dur­ing March to Au­gust 2020.

She not­ed that a pos­si­ble ex­pla­na­tion was be­cause, “The op­er­a­tions of the de­part­ment which is re­spon­si­ble for pro­cess­ing the SEED grant were sus­pend­ed to fa­cil­i­tate the as­sis­tance of the staff of that Di­vi­sion with the pro­cess­ing of COVID re­lief grants.”

A to­tal num­ber of SEED grants ap­proved for fis­cal 2020 was 26.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Jesus Explosion 23: Visiting priest feeds RC faithful

12 hours ago
Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Courtesy Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Courtesy Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League

Israel Khan honoured by community cricket league

12 hours ago
SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa steps up Caricom collaboration after summit

Yesterday
Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

ANISTO ALVES

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

ANISTO ALVES

Argentina wants to export world-famous beef to T&T

Yesterday