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Monday,
January 12th, 2009: The New National
Party says that the decision taken by
GRAVEL AND CONCRETE to increase the
price of beach sand is another
demonstration of the Government’s
continued effort to impose severe
hardship on the backs of the poor and
vulnerable.
The NNP
believes that this decision would have
negative implications for the poor and
persons who are in the process of
building their homes, but will also
result in a reduction in the
construction job. This further affect
the truck drivers and owners, the mason
the carpenter and almost everyone
involved in the construction field.
The NNP
strongly condemns the action of GRAVEL
AND CONCRETE to stock pile the beach
sand and increase the price from $34 to
$88 per cubic yard for the purpose of
making profit. The NNP also condemns
the manner in which the price increase
was done especially since the present
NDC Government continues to preach
"public consultation" which was never
done with the builders, truckers and
consumers in general.
In addition
the NNP says it is interesting to note
that the new chairman of the board who
is the current chairman of the NDC has
lead to process to take such a harsh
decision after publicly expressing its
party’s desire to reduce the rising cost
of living and to help the poor and
vulnerable.
Meanwhile,
the New National Party is appalled at
the type of treatment meted out to the
elderly citizens by the Tillman Thomas
administration.
The party
believes that while there is nothing
wrong with reregistering persons for the
Public Assistance Programnme, it is
inhumane to force disabled persons as
well as those who are confined to their
homes for health reasons, to visit an
office to reregister. The Government
must also be aware that there are
persons who have no one to collect a
form for them and many who are still
unaware of the new requirements.
The New
National Party empathize with the many
senior citizens of the country who are
treated in this way and believes that
the government could use resources
available and send officers to the homes
of such persons to complete the new
forms.
At the same
time, members of Her Majesty’s
Opposition are calling on the Government
to extend the time given for persons to
reapply for the programme.
The
Opposition is concerned about the many
persons who are unaware of the deadline
given to reapply. In addition, many
persons on the programme will not be
able to leave their homes and will have
to depend on others to collect the form
and return it for them.
It is
therefore making an appeal on behalf of
such persons and hopes that Government
is not using the process as a strategy
to reduce the amount of persons on the
list so it can meet the commitment to
increase the monthly payment by $50.00
after promising an increase to $400.00
during the July 2008 election campaign.
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