‘Don’t use state welfare programme for political gain’

DEPUTY political leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) and electoral representative for Parlatuvier/L’Anse Fourmi/ Speyside, Farley Augustine, believes the covid19 social care response of Tobago is something the THA’s Executive Council needs to address.

“I am an assemblyman and I got zero food cards. I have no food cards to distribute, at best I can help you sign up a form for food cards. However, all MPs were given food cards including our MPs for Tobago East and West.

“How they are distributing them, I don’t know and that is something that they should say to the public but the matter of assemblymen having food cards to distribute, the matter of area representative having food cards to distribute, that allegation is troubling to me. It is troubling because if it is true it would mean that those in the majority gave food cards to area representatives to distribute to the needy in their communities and those of us in the Minority got none,” Augustine said.

Augustine said he has been doing his best to meet the needs of residents of his district since the onset of the pandemic. “I find it patently unfair for me to be working so hard and giving all of my resources and then we have those on the majority just getting resources from the State’s coffers to give to their people, and none is coming in my direction.

“That is unfair and that cannot be democracy. I was elected a representative, so was Minority Leader Watson Duke, and so if food cards are being given to area reps to distribute, then we too should receive an equal quota to give to the residents of our electoral district,” he said.

Augustine said all area representatives should be given food cards as they are more in touch with the community’s needs than MPs. “The truth is that the area reps, more than even the MPs, are intimately connected with those who are in need. We see them more frequently than our MPs and that’s naturally so, because while the MPs would have several villages to see about, on average we, the area reps have about five villages each. So we more than the MPs can be intimate and on the ground, and so that must be a consideration as we roll out the social welfare programme of the THA.”

He warned the THA Executive Council: “This social welfare programme cannot and should not be used for political gains. People are in need and what should be happening is that the social welfare programmes should be available to all, food cards should not only be given to those who have a party card for the red party.”

Efforts to reach acting Chief Secretary Joel Jack for a response were futile as calls to his mobile went unanswered and there was no response to WhatsApp messages.