And when we asked Minister Louis Zabaneh how he felt about the cut in allowances, he said he believed it was mostly symbolic, since the savings would be minuscule compared to the other cost-cutting measures.
He also spoke about the housing funds that the area reps would be given to distribute to their constituents. He explained that while it will be of assistance, they need to be careful not to encourage dependency on the government:
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport
"Cabinet in its wisdom decided to do the 50% cut. I think it's a symbolic cut, to be honestâ€"the number, I understand, will be somewhere in the range of about $200,000 per year, and if that can help in any way, shape, or form, then that's great. I believe the other substantive actions that are being taken, that the Prime Minister just outlined here in the National Assembly, I think will be the ones that will have greater impactâ€"for example, as you said, more assistance, housing assistance. On a weekly basis we get requestsâ€"my constituency, the Dangriga constituencyâ€"for people who have their roofs that are leaking, the house is falling apart; all those things are genuine needs, so this will go a long way to assisting people, and we have a long list of them who are waiting for that kind of assistance. The grocery bag program will be doubled, as you heard, and again, we do have legitimate needs, and with the rising cost of living, this will go a long way to helping residents in my constituency and across the country."
"In my view, I don't believe that is necessarily the pathway to be able to address matters concerning the needs of the populace; I believe it has to do with policies relating to empowering people, and as you know,we've had the discussion about productivity. I think those are the longer-term solutions we need to look at."
Reporter
"Whenever you have this situation of monies being distributed through an area rep, you have the potential for some level of corruptionâ€"do you think this will open up more avenues for that corruption to take place?"
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport
"It's the individual integrity of each area representative. We have certain requirements from the Ministry of Finance, as you know. We have to bring back all the proof of use of funds, then we get the next month's disbursementâ€"so that's how it works. In my case, I welcome the increase because I have a long list of people who are waiting. And I just want to always try to look at the bigger picture, because we don't want to create dependency either."
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