Mohit moves to improve delivery of social welfare grants

MINISTER of the People, Social Development and Family Services Vandana Mohit says she intends to roll out plans and initiatives to clear the backlog of social service grants and ensure they reach people in need quickly but faced a major hurdle of staffing some of the departments.

At the prize distribution ceremony of the ministry’s Spoken Word Competition at the ministry’s headquarters on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain on May 24, she said, “In the coming weeks, it is our intention to revamp the delivery of social services to the poor and vulnerable in a speedier fashion.”

Speaking to Newsday after the ceremony she expanded on her statement saying although many services were available there were challenges when it came to the resources trickling down to those in need.

She said she noticed backlogs with senior citizens, pension, disability, disaster relief and public assistance grants, and many people who applied had been waiting for a long time. She was waiting for an update on a report before she gave more information on the local boards which administer grants, how people could get their grants fast-tracked and her plans.

Mohit outlined some of the ministry’s aims and challenges as well as the commitment to address them saying, “I always work towards resolving issues and, bit by bit, I'm going to take every department in this ministry and deal with the challenges hands-on and ensure that people are happy with the service they're receiving from the Ministry of the People Social Development and Family Services.”

She said there were some challenges with the local boards so the ministry was working on matching them to the Gazette, which officially assigned government agencies to ministries. She said most were fully functional but, where there were none, the ministry would ensure their establishment in the coming months.

She revealed she was having many meetings and site visits to ensure the ministry’s facilities were operational. She said many were “nice” and were open but there was a lack of staff for the operations to begin at these facilities.

“So once these operations get on stream I can foresee us dealing with poverty and dealing with the issues facing women and children in our society.

“Accessibility, inclusivity and equity are some of the most important things to me here in this ministry.”

Disabled signage coming

Mohit promised her ministry would be keeping in line with government policy and the UNC's manifesto regarding reviewing social programmes and meeting the current needs of the people.

She said she received complaints about the means test and it will also be reviewed as it was causing some of the needy to be disqualified for assistance.

When Newsday asked if the ministry would be looking into President Christine Kangaloo’s call to put more efficient legal processes in place for a caregiver to help manage the affairs of people with Alzheimer's disease, she said there was a lot in store for the physically and mentally disabled in terms of government policy. Kangaloo made the plea during her speech at the ceremonial opening of Parliament on May 23.

Mohit said she had been meeting with ministry officials to put draft estimates in place and to ensure they were catering to the needs of those with disabilities.

“I have been engaging with stakeholders, and of course, our governance will come from engagement with stakeholders. So I've asked them to write their proposals to me and we have been planning already when it comes to our draft estimates for persons with disabilities.

“Our first order of business for our disabled community as it relates to legislation and so on is to ask the entire population, government agencies and private institutions to please have your disabled parking up and running and proper signage.”

She said the ministry was also concerned about elder abuse, so once a case came to its attention, reports were immediately forwarded to the reporting mechanism.

Homelessness a priority

In the case of homelessness, she said the ministry would be rolling out a properly planned structure as to how to deal with the displaced. She will be visiting the ministry's Hernandez Place Sanctuary in Arima to see what immediate steps could be taken to assist the clients there, and a Socially Displaced Assessment Centre was being constructed.

There were reports of a significant increase in the number of homeless and socially displaced people since the covid19 pandemic in 2020. There was an increase in people going to shelters asking for help because they lost their jobs and were not able to pay rent.

Before the pandemic, in 2019, Port of Spain mayor Joel Martinez instructed the city police to enforce a move-along policy to discourage the homeless from sleeping on the city pavements.

After, in 2021, he had to go to mediation with the Homeless Assistance Office when then Minister of Social Development and Family Services Donna Cox handed him the keys to the gated shelter on the ground floor of the Centre for Socially Displaced Persons at the Riverside Plaza carpark. He was expected to give the keys to Anthony Salloum, founder of the Homeless Assistance Office but did not at the time.

Years earlier, former Port of Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing also tried to address the homeless situation in the capital city. He ordered the police to remove those thought to be homeless from the street and some were charged with loitering.

Mohit said, “In this ministry, we are about transforming and empowering lives. It's not about what you do, it's how you do it, and this is why we are engaging in a lengthy discussion and planning exercise before we approach this issue so that we do not operate recklessly. What we want to ensure in this Ministries is that we do not border on interfering with human rights.”