Living Water head: Lines for food are mostly Trinis

Director and founder of the Living Water Community (LWC) Rhonda Maingot has responded to remarks by Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat that people lining up for food hampers were mostly Venezuelans

Maingot says almost all of the people in line at LWC were Trinidadians.

Rambharat made the remarks in response to Opposition Senator Wade Mark during a Senate sitting last Thursday.

Speaking with Newsday on Monday Maingot said, “We don’t have Venezuelans in the line outside the centre, this line is for Trinis.

“There may be one or two (migrants) but the consistency of the line has been almost entirely Trinidadians. It has been all the time and will continue to be.”

Contacted for comment, Rambharat said he only referred to “Venezuelans” outside the LWC as an example to make a point.

“I was making the point that Living Water assists Venezuelans because they cannot access social services in TT. They would therefore be given priority, and Living Water does not have a bottomless pit. Resources would run out, he said.

“Citizens can seek assistance from the Ministry of Social Development. So that if there are Trinidadians outside Living Water seeking food assistance, Living Water does not have the resources to handle all of them and as citizens they should go to the Ministry of Social Development.

“I was actually making the point that Living Water should be left to handle the Venezuelans and other non-nationals.”

Maingot said LWC will resume distributing hampers on Friday, and there will be additional measures to avoid a repeat of an incident outside the centre on Frederick Street last Friday, when hundreds of people crowded together for hours waiting for hampers. Eventually the crowd was dispersed by police.

“We have things in place,” she said “We have spoken to the police, so there are things in place to ensure people social distance while in line to make sure the process goes smoothly.”

Asked what mechanisms were in place to ensure some people were not taking advantage of the system by collecting hampers more than once, Maingot said the organisation kept a database of people who visited their offices.