The $300 solidarity allowance is nothing more than “a naked, crude . . . votegrabbing exercise” by a Government that has an unholy alliance with gang leaders.
That criticism came from former minister of tourism in the last Democratic Labour Party administration, Richard Sealy, in his first appearance on the political platform since the short campaign for the May 21 by-election in St James North began. He was speaking during a meeting in Ashton Hall, St Peter, on Saturday night, in support of candidate Felicia Dujon.
Sealy said Government was also throwing money at criminals “while they still have their guns and everything else”.
He said a lot of the crime being experienced was out of desperation as it had become very difficult to feed families and pay bills as the cost of living worsened under the Barbados Labour Party.
“Once again, a Government devoid of any meaningful solutions comes up with this hare-brained scheme that was announced during the Budget, that they are going to give everybody a Solidarity Allowance.
“If I criticise the programme now, ya gine hear, ‘Oh, I don’t want people to get money’. That’s not the issue. I want people to get money but I want them to get it in a sustainable way,” he said, adding that shoppers would be lucky to get two trips to the supermarket from that amount.
Sealy said the same National Insurance and Social Security Service helping to distribute the allowance lost $1.3 billion in the debt restructuring programme while Government increased contributions and extended the retirement age.
“Making life more difficult for Barbadians, and the solution is to give you $300. Deal with the NIS, recapitalise it, but it is going to take time, because somebody came up with the grand idea to default on our all debt,” he said.
The agency recently borrowed $200 million to do a digitisation
programme while the Government found $40 million for the allowance, he said.
“It is wrong. It is also immoral because it just happened this money is distributed days away from when people in St James North are going to the polling station. It is nothing other than a naked, crude . . . votegrabbing exercise . . . . That is all and it needs to be called out for that.
“It is not a solution to the cost of living crisis in Barbados. We need something way more sustainable,” the candidate for St Michael South Central declared.
On the other issue, crime, Sealy said the unholy and insidious alliance between the Government and criminals needed to be severed.
“If you can sever that, we can then talk seriously about the prevention of crime and the role of Government. Not that we are in any way politicising the issue of crime, we are politicising the necessity to prevent crime,” he said.
He noted that after the crime prevention portfolio – under which the National Peace Programme falls – went to Kirk Humphrey on the departure of Corey Lane, his first statement related to meeting with gang leaders.
“You could imagine that, meet with what gangsters? Anytime you in charge of a peace programme and you going to meet with gangsters, you should have a pair of bracelets to put on their hands. That is how you deal with crime. Deal with gangsters?” (AC)
Give me the $300 and watch muh.