THE POOR NEED HELP

Jun 19, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Once again Glenn Lall, the publisher of this newspaper, is doing a wonderful thing by assisting the family of the woman who was struck down on Wednesday on the East Bank Public Road. Glenn is one of Guyana’s greatest humanitarians and philanthropists and has a very soft heart when it comes to helping those facing desperate straits.
The number of people that he has assisted in Guyana is too many to count, and he often tries to shun the limelight. He has set something of a record when it comes to raising money in Guyana and I have no doubt that he will, in this instance be able to convince the Guyanese people to come forward and offer assistance to the children of the now dead woman.
Glenn has indicated that he will help with the funeral expenses. It is also clear that the family needs a proper home and the conditions under which they are living are certainly not suited for the proper upbringing of the children. I know that if the government gives this family a house lot, that Glenn will be able to raise some money to build a more suitable structure for the family.
This is something that the government needs to be doing. It needs to identify the real needy in society and offer them house lots and some assistance in building, even if it is on loan.
There has been talk about a fund to help persons who need to build but the government should not have to wait until the fund is established; it should in this instance try to offer some assistance, including counseling to the father of the children since he would need all the help that he can get to take care of his family.
The Minister of Housing should invite this man immediately into the ministry and allocate a house lot for him. I am sure that with Glenn’s assistance and with the help of the Guyanese people these children can be taken care of.
The President and the Minister of Agriculture now have a competitor when it comes to featuring in the news. The Minister of Housing is appearing just as often as they have. The only problem is that, most of the projects which form the basis of the news reporting were in the pipeline long before he took over the ministry and therefore what we are having is a lot of publicity but not necessarily a transformation in the work that his ministry was doing.
He has however signaled his intention to go after those persons who are not building on the lots allocated to them. I hope that he also goes after those persons who have fraudulently acquired house lots by claiming that they were not the prior owners of properties.
He should request information from the taxman as to some of the house lot owners to see whether they had owned property before. He should also check with the registry at the courts.
When the PPP first came to office it used to publicize the names of those persons whose applications for house lots were being processed. In this way, if someone had previously owned a property, then the ministry stood a chance of receiving a report to this effect since the names were made public.
This practice stopped even before it started and I hope that it is re-commenced by the new minister so that the public can see just who is benefitting from State property.
I am sure that an audit of the housing schemes established under the PPP administration would show that persons who owned property acquired government house lots. And there are likely to be many more that will benefit unless a strong system is implemented.
There are also many poor persons who need house lots and who have not been successful in obtaining any. There are also those like the family which this newspaper is assisting who are so much in need that they would probably never have applied for a house lot given the cost that is involved.
These are the persons who should now be given first priority for government lands and the government should work with these persons to establish homes for them so that they can leave something for their children.
Many a rich man today, started out in the same position as many poor persons, with nothing and living in a shack. But with time they improved themselves through their own efforts and with the support of their community.
No one has to be confined to a life of poverty. With the right breaks and with hard work, the poorest of man can make something for himself. I speak from experience.

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THE POOR NEED HELP

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