Chaguanas East MP to PM: Stop Cerebral Palsy Society eviction

Chaguanas East MP Vandana Mohit is calling on the Prime Minister and Minister of Social Development and Family Services Donna Cox to intervene and allow the Cerebral Palsy Society to keep its base at a Carlsen Field building until alternative arrangements can be made to house it.

Last week the society was told it needed to vacate the National Enrichment Centre in Carlsen Field within a week. Some 30 members, as young as three, are now unable to complete their ten-week therapy schedule.

In a release on Monday, Mohit condemned what she called the "deafening silence by the Minister of Social Development and Family Serviceswhen contacted" on the matter.

"Additionally the discourtesy and disrespect is amplified wherein it seems that no consultation or even a conversation was forthcoming prior to arriving at such a position and it was just unilaterally closed to the vulnerable users."

The society's president, Philip Metivier, told Newsday in a phone interview on Monday that the group was not given any official explanation for the move. Instead, he said, the facilities manager told him orally it would need to vacate the premises, which it has occupied since around 2018.

"He says we will keep a meeting (with ministry officials) and we'd let you know what will be going on. So the whole of last week I kept calling and calling, but nobody not answering," he said.

The building has been used to provide free therapy to children with cerebral palsy from as far away as Guayaguyare. This is facilitated by the Caribbean Kids Family Therapy Organisation, free of charge to the Cerebral Palsy Society.

Metivier said he was told the move was to facilitate building repairs, but doubted this. He took issue with the way the situation was handled by the authorities, without appropriate communication.

However, apart from clarity, he said the society wants a space where it can continue its work.

"Just get a place in the interim for us so that we can continue doing our therapy until the building is finished...because that building was built for the purpose," he said.

"The National Enrichment Centre was for people with disabilities."

He said if the members lose out on their next five weeks of therapy, that could undo up to ten years of work put in by the patients and their parents.

Mohit echoed Metivier's sentiments, calling on Cox, the authorities and the Prime Minister to "immediately intervene and grant access to the society whilst alternative arrangements are implemented if there is a valid rationale for their literal eviction.

"Immediate dialogue and communication must be initiated in order for this ignominy to be urgently addressed. This national disgrace must feel the full brunt of the people's anger," she said.

Metivier said the society's plight is not a political one, but one of "humanity."

Newsday was unable to get a comment from Cox.