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Differently able persons will have yearlong public assistance – Volda Lawrence
Differently able persons will no more be subjected to six- month tranches of public assistance anymore.
They have begun receiving continuous financial benefits from the new government. In addition, these persons will also not have to be taken to the office to be evaluated; the Social Welfare Officer will have to (do their work) visit them. Those were the words of Senior Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence.
Minister Volda Lawrence is flanked by Head of the CC&PA Ann Green (right) and MP John Adams at the workshop.
Lawrence was responding to concerns from a group at a recently held workshop at the St Francis Community Developers Multipurpose Hall at Portuguese Quarters, Port Mourant Corentyne Berbice, which looked at legal issues surrounding sexual offences involving children.
The workshop was part of a series of activities held to observe Child Protection Week, which is being observed under the Theme ‘Strengthen Families to Protect Children’.
The Minister stated that the government is serious with its drive of a good life for all Guyanese and the administration has taken a number of initiatives to fulfill this mandate.
Differently able persons will not be left behind.
To this end, the Minister added that a Bill is soon to be tabled in the National Assembly to ensure that at least two disabled persons are employed in every government agency.
In terms of the Pensioners, the Minister stated that the government will be moving to enhance the payment of pensions.
“I want to say that 2016 will be the last year for booklets; the Ministry will be going high-tech come 2017.”
Also of concern, she said, is the lack of specialized Counselors to deal with victims of sexual abuse. The Minister said that efforts are being made to attract trained persons to deal with the various issues.
“We are working assiduously to deal with all the various issues we inherited .We do not have persons within the system to deal with the various areas of ailments. We need specialized people to deal with our children, street people, the elderly and other social ills affecting our country.”
Minister Lawrence stated that the Ministry is looking to collaborate with various International agencies for funding to attract skilled persons to work in these areas.
She also touched on the issue of establishing a juvenile holding centre in the Region. “We have to ensure that Georgetown doesn’t become the hub of everything so we have to decentralized services.”
In that light, Lawrence challenged Alex Foster, President of the SFCD to find a building in Berbice, which could be used as a holding centre for delinquent children. She said that in collaboration with Minister of National Security Khemraj Ramjattan, efforts are being made to save those children from falling through the cracks.
The workshop was attended by a number of NGO’s including the police, orphanages, religious organisations, the legal fraternity, social workers, University Of Guyana Students, representatives of the National Psychiatric Hospital, nurses and teachers among others.
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