PM, an Xmas gift for seniors, please

The obviously very senior citizen was sitting at the back of the small waiting room, where there were about 12 people, eight or so much, much younger. With her head slightly bent, she placed her hands on the stick, which apparently helps her walk.

It was a government office. She was obviously impatient, even distressed. She was waiting a long time for service last week. I was sitting there too, waiting for almost four hours.

Couldn’t there be a system, especially in government services, to provide some priority attention for senior citizens, rather than have them lining up?

It would still be welcome if the government were to raise the “senior” age for such kindness to pensioners 70 and over (an estimated 15 per cent of the population is over 60, that is, over 200,000 citizens; 13 per cent are 65 and over).

When you see our “ole people” treated so unkindly, it breaks your heart. After all, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should know the physical, if not mental, hardships senior citizens experience. Many suffer from diabetes or cardiac challenges.

Waiting for long periods in a government office without any sustenance aggravates such inflictions. Some need a walking stick or someone to hold their hand. Not every senior could afford that.

A kind-hearted government may also consider providing washrooms in public offices for seniors. After all, the PM was hailed as “Mother of the Nation.”

The PM should instruct the hard-working Vandana Mohit, Minister of the People, Social Development and Family Services, to develop a helpful policy of priority service for seniors at all government offices. Grants and house repairs, etc, are one thing, but the daily pressures can be very stressful and unhealthy for our aged citizens.

There is no rocket science here. The Licensing Office at Caroni has done something admirable about it.

Certainly, show love and care for children: but look compassionately at the upper end too, to those who have served this country in one way or another. Many of them are now our most disempowered citizens. Don’t hasten their end.

In fact, every government service centre should have an officer dedicated to this priority purpose. From what has been regularly witnessed, each agency should be properly supervised to avoid having absent cashiers, no service at lunchtime, etc. Many poor seniors travel from far. They can’t afford to be travelling up and down. Have some mercy on them.

Let me give you just one example of the public grumbling. This is from citizen Shyankaran Lalla’s published complaint about delays and neglect in public service: “Today, poor people are suffering because of the dereliction of duty, inefficiency and ineffectiveness by those responsible for performing their duties.”

This new government must avoid falling into the habit of only looking upwards with expensive projects and buildings while leaving the ground-level people to fight out their daily problems. The grumbling has started.

Any government that treats our senior citizens with dedicated kindness in the manner I mentioned will be blessed. And it doesn’t take much, either in money or manpower. We admire the man who helps the “ole lady” cross the road.

The government that helps such people, the government that takes away some of the daily discomfort from our seniors, would also be admired by the population. After all, almost every family has one or two very senior members.

Soon enough, all our ministers and their families will be or become seniors. All other adults, too. I have seen quite a few former ministers who could now do with some kindness.

It would be a remarkable event if, at Christmas time, the PM, with her cabinet and Ms Mohit, announces a viable system of prioritised attention and service for senior citizens at all government offices. What a Christmas gift! This new UNC government will be blessed at both ends, for the children and then for our seniors.

The politics in and around Parliament is already rough, with the population confused over “threats” of war and uneasy over food prices and traffic conditions. It would therefore be quite soothing and peace-giving at this Christmas time if the PM brings some kindness and good cheer to our senior citizens.

I now extend a Merry Christmas to all my readers and fellow citizens, especially my senior readers.