MPs with ‘outside’ children

MPs are among men who have impregnated women seeking help from them to take care of their existing children, so creating “help children,” said Independent Senator Hazel Thompson-Ahye. Her surprise allegation came as she discussed lifestyles while the Senate yesterday debated an Opposition private motion lamenting the closure of Petrotrin.

Thompson-Ahye, a child-rights advocate and attorney, said closure affects various dependants of a retrenched worker, including elderly people who have young children.

“We’ve heard time and time again, ‘Follow the money,’ and sometimes people take that quite seriously, especially women, and they follow the money by going with men who they think have money, hoping for a better life.”

She said such a situation can lead to men having multiple wives and multiple children, and having to provide for each of these households.

“We have also lots of what we call ‘help children’.” From her law practice, she recalled a lesson she had learnt from a female client seeking a divorce.

“The woman came to check with me the petition, we were going through, and she had in tow a young child and I said to her, ‘You’re babysitting?’ but she said ‘No, that’s my child.’

“I looked at the petition but it was nowhere there on the list of children, and I said, ‘How could this be?’

“She said, ‘It’s not my husband’s child. That is “help.” I went to get help and I got this child.’ So I learnt about ‘help children.’”

Thompson-Ahye said she wanted to advise that: “This is something that is very real in the society. In many societies people believe that parliamentarians who they have voted for, they must seek help from them. Sometimes children come out of that ‘help’ situation. There are concrete examples which I will not reveal here today.”

Otherwise Thompson-Ahye listed the many community facilities lost by the Petrotrin closure, the loss of which will harm the lifestyles of ex-workers and their families. This included the provision of health check-ups for retirees, during which they would catch up on each other’s latest family news and so maintain valuable bonding.