Death of sugar keeps social support alive during crisis

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas declared that the closure of the sugar industry has allowed his government the opportunity to maintain social safety nets for the poor and other vulnerable groups.

In his April 21 town hall meeting in Sandy Point, Dr. Douglas informed that although the economic crisis brought with it an unfavourable outlook for the domestic economy, social support elements such as the school meals programme, school bus support and Student Education Learning Fund (SELF) would help to lessen its impact on society.

“Your government has not closed any of the important social support systems that we’ve had. Your children continue to go to school by way of the school bus being arranged and provided by the government. 

“We have made sure that there are opportunities for your children to have their examination fees supplemented by your government. Your school feeding programme is continuing. In some countries, as a result of the global downturn, all these would have been withdrawn,” he added.

PM Douglas informed that one of the major ways of ensuring that the nation was able to maintain such social support systems was by closing the sugar industry. He noted that the struggling industry had been racking up a significant amount of debt for the nation and threatened social assistance programmes.

“That is why we took the bold decision since 2005 and we closed the sugar industry. It was really a burden on the necks of the people of this country because it was causing us a high debt to be incurred every year that we reaped our sugar crop. 

According to the Prime Minister, the remaining debt from the sugar industry stands at EC $400 million, indicating that having the industry still fully functional would have meant an even greater debt for the country.

Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris revealed late last year that the maintenance of social assistance programmes is one of the government’s critical responses to the crisis, indicating that the government has plans to “protect the vulnerable”.

“We must ensure that more specific targeting of beneficiaries will be done to ensure that only those qualified to receive gratuitous support do so. We will maintain the school feeding and SELF programmes, and will render support to the indigent through food supports and meeting the cost of utility bills.  We will maintain our care giver programme for the elderly and also the Legal Aid Clinic,” Harris said.