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Social Development Minister Cherrie-Ann Critchlow-Cockburn said internal auditors have been asked to do an extensive audit of every one of the 240,000-plus recipients who receive food cards to ensure that they are eligible to be recipients.
The minister said they had undertaken the audit of every one of the files because they recognised during the enrolment process that a review was not done on all processes.
Critchlow-Cockburn referred to the tightening of the distribution of food cards under the new People National Movement’s (PNM) administration which had seen the removal of some 4,000 cardholders who were not eligible for the service. She said the removal of the 4,000 had saved government $25 million on an annual basis.
Advertisements she said were placed in the main stream media for cardholders to be enrolled to ensure those who were eligible could use the card to make their monthly purchase at supermarkets.
She said on July 15, the three-month extension for some 14,000 people who had not come in to be enrolled in the system would have expired and they would ultimately be removed.
The removal of that additional 14,000 people from the system, she said, would save the Government and additional $110 million annually. She said currently they had 240,000-plus people who received payment.
Critchlow-Cockburn said at least 24.5 per cent of the population in T&T was living in poverty in spite of successive governments expending billions of dollars on social sector programmes. She said one of the reasons for that had to do with education.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the education reform Minister of Education Anthony Garcia had undertaken would seek to break the cycle of children just passing through the system without benefitting from a proper education.
Speaking at a PNM political meeting in San Fernando on Tuesday night, Critchlow-Cockburn spoke of a number of initiatives to assist the “poor and indigent,” among them access to a number of grants as well as food cards.
While she spoke, a lone female protestor stood quietly at the back of the auditorium holding aloft a placard highlighting her plight for her just dues.
“URP workers on the breadline. We need to feed our children. Get rid of those paper criminals in URP. We want our money for the past month. That is wickedness.” She was ignored by the PNM hierarchy.
Redman wrote:Cards were handed out by the PP for political reasons.
A food card and a t shirt-vote fuh we.
How does a country with sub 5% unemployment as per the last administration also have 20% of the population on food cards?
hong kong phooey wrote:how do you get a food card?
mitch1980 wrote:figure is misleading
Dizzy28 wrote:mitch1980 wrote:figure is misleading
You have more reliable information??
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