She made these comments as several single parents, who are being assisted by the Single Parents Assistance Programme, voiced their disappointment at being taken off the public assistance programme.

The interactions took place during the second in a series of distributions of the day care assistance vouchers, which is one component of the Single Parents Assistance Programme, in Linden last Thursday.

The minister explained that, “People who are poor or have medical conditions are entitled to be considered for public assistance by a Local Board of Guardians.”

She stated that the Local Board of Guardians, which is a lawfully appointed entity, is made up of members of the community that the board represents so as to prevent manipulation of the system.

“It is your community representatives who make the decisions as to whether or not you are to receive public assistance and the only involvement of the Ministry is to pay when the Board says pay,” Ms. Manickchand asserted.

She stressed that any action by the Ministry without the go ahead by the Local Board of Guardian would be unlawful.

“If I decide to give you public assistance and the Board says no I would be acting unlawfully and in the same way, if the Board says pay you and I don’t I would be acting unlawfully,” Ms. Manickchand explained.

Furthermore, she pointed out that the Ministry does not take away public assistance from people but rather upon a review by a member of the Local Board of Guardians and a ministry official, an ex-officio officer, the assistance either continues or is discontinued.

This review is done, according to the minister, every January and July, as mandated by law and to this end the public assistance voucher books are printed with six coupons and regardless of when they are issued they will expire every January and July.

“We do not take away your public assistance voucher books, no one takes away your voucher books, your eligibility is just reviewed,” the minister clarified.

She pointed out that if persons stay on public assistance for life, like some persons who were in the system for 10 and 15 years, they would be denying another person from being assisted.

The minister stressed that the intermittent benefit was meant for persons in need to be able “To catch themselves and move on.”

She stated that when persons start to work and started to improve their living conditions they will no longer be granted the assistance as they would no longer qualify.

She affirmed that, “Once persons do not meet the requirements to qualify for public assistance and the Local Board of Guardians says no an individual cannot get public assistance.”