Opposition lawmaker Daniel Cummings is calling on the government to release the latest poverty assessment report, saying that if the government does not publish the data, he would.
“I am eagerly waiting for this so called government to make public the report done on the poverty assessment. That information is information that the people of this country need to have,” Cummings said on Wednesday on his weekly radio programme.
“The work was not done for and on behalf of the ULP party. It was done for and on behalf of the people of this country. And as such, we have a right to have access to that information,” the West Kingstown parliamentary representative said.
Cummings’ comments on his New Democratic Party (NDP) programme on Nice Radio are his latest attempt to get the government to release the data.
The overall objective of the poverty assessment is to update living conditions statistics and to recommend policies, strategies, action plans and projects that will reduce the extent and severity of poverty.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has not had a poverty assessment since after the global financial crisis more than a decade ago.
Nine months ago, in response to a question in Parliament, Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves said his government was yet to complete the latest poverty assessment, the result of which should have been published since March 2019.
In his comments on Wednesday, Cummings suggested that the government does not want to release the data because they are not favourable.
“The simple reality is the people on the ground know the condition under which they live. We who feel it know it. Everywhere you go in this country, the level of poverty is frightening.
“With the limited resources we have and as much as we try to help people in getting simple things like getting their kids ready for school, no matter how much we can put our hands on, it is but a virtual drop in the ocean because there are so many parents who do not have the means.
“What is even worse, there are so many parents who complain that they’ve been to Social Welfare, they have been repeatedly to them, they are telling them come back and come back and come back. And still they are getting no help, no help because they themselves obviously cannot cope with the large numbers of parents who cannot afford to send their children back to school.”
The opposition politician said there are situations where registering a child in a school requires several hundred dollars, with the figure not including the cost of books, uniforms, or other school supplies.
“… and these are largely parents who although they have a little partial or short term job, it can hardly put a meal on the table. This is the crying shame that we find throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with few exceptions.
“And this is why I want the government to come clean and give that report, to tell us what is the state of poverty throughout the country.”
He asked whether there was a difference between the level of poverty in Colonarie and Park Hill, two villages in North Central Windward, which Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves represents in Parliament, and North Windward and North Leeward and even in Kingstown.
“Tell the people; come clean [on] what the poverty assessment report says. How does the level of poverty in 2018 compare with the level of poverty in 1998, 20 years after?
“Tell the people what the ULP government has done to the level of poverty in this country. Talk to us. Don’t push it under the rug because I say again, if you don’t tell the people, Daniel Cummings will.’
Cummings said he was “being generous” to the government.
“I am giving you time because you know when I disclose the information, you will put your hand on your head and bawl. The people must know the information. You have it; you have been hiding it, you have been lying in Parliament; as minister of finance, you refuse to give the information,” he said.
Time enough for the gravy train to switch track and crew and passengers. My biggest worry about St Vincent is that both parties are a true reflection of each other and I want to see a change in government but the stark reality is that the masses will still be living in poverty. I hate it when the vulnerable and poor are used by the politicians and then forgotten. This vicious cycle has to stop and I don’t think NDP is gonna be an agent of true change with all the empty promises they’re making in this election season. Reality.
It goes without saying, that Economic freedom is always a fundamental must to a country’s prosperity.
This fact was abundantly noted in 19th Century America and all of Europe, that under the western model, of economic and democratic systems, prosperity for all, is vigorously promoted and was and is eventually achieved.
However, enter SVG sadly, one ideological son of Fidel Castro with his Karl Marxian socialistic system for an economy Ralph Gonsalves. https://www.iwnsvg.com/2020/08/17/video-communist-land-acquisition-in-svg/ The rest they say is now history! Poverty for most and international begging.
Sadly however and as seen under the Karl Marxian socialistic system, poverty for all, is what one gets eventually, as both todays Cuba and Venezuela has shown us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARUbwT7rwjk
If any stats are released, we would have to see those stats in various contexts. I am sure the ULP would try to display them in a context that ameliorates thier negative significance and the NDP will do the opposite. What bothers me is that after living here over 15 years I have watched many new taxes created and the existing taxes increase but at the same time no real job creation. The tax increases and additional taxes are the result of the lack of job creation along with the destruction of agriculture and now (resulting from Covid-19) tourism.
I am agast at the ABSENCE of CREATIVE THINKING BY OUR POLICY MAKERS.
As this virus demonstrates and so will the future new viruses they plan to release, change how we do everything, when are we going to employ forward-thinking instead of crafting policy that guarantees defeat….I am not demanding that our policy makers adopt my solutions but at least listen, and maybe they can identify and incorporate elements that will move us forward instead of consistently nowhere or backwards.
1)Cut Corporate Income Tax to around 16% ALL AT ONE TIME!
2)Remove all Customs Duty on Identified Imports that build the country
3) Reduce the bloated, over-expensive and inefficient public (government) sector
4)Concentrate revenue on projects that assist the private sector to create jobs instead of competing against the Private Sector by building houses and managing hotels.
5) Make drastic reforms in our law enforcement to reduce the corruption and create trust before it is too late.
There is more…(roads, healthcare. education,…). In my opinion jobs are the most vital element to begin with, otherwise we will lack the revenue to implement anything causing us to continually turn to Keynesian Economics which digs us deeper with excessive borrowing and even more taxes.
SVG and many countries are in deep trouble unless we pull our heads out of our backsides.
Yes, time to remove the smoke-screens and all the wool from over the eyes of the sheep.
Waiting Bro.Cummings, this could be the game-changer for St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
A NEW DAY IS DAWNING!!!