— Ramkarran shuts down Norton’s claims that ‘education cash grant’ geared towards creating “dependency syndrome”

“UNBELIEVABLE,” said prominent Attorney, Ralph Ramkarran, S.C., as he reacted to People’s National Congress/ Reform (PNC/R), Aubrey C. Norton, who contended that the ‘Because We Care’ grant is “both inadequate and ill-conceived”.

Writing in his weekly column ‘The Conversation Tree’ on July 18, 2021, Ramkarran describes Norton’s comments expressed in a Letter to the Editor as “fallacious nonsense”, “largely discredited”, “backward” and “dangerous”.

Norton in his letter said that the ‘Because We Care’ education cash grant “fits into” the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) “scheme to create dependence rather than increasing our people’s capacity to earn and live decent and fulfilling lives” and that “The PPP’s use of State resources creates dependencies to dominate and control the lives of the people of Guyana”.

“For Mr. Norton to join with the most conservative, reactionary, politicians worldwide to perpetuate this now largely discredited, backward, dangerous and fallacious nonsense, that cash grants actually create any kind of dependency whatsoever, whether on politicians or anyone else, is quite unbelievable,” Ramkarran said.

He pointed out that the local ‘education cash grant’ comes in the midst of significant developments in the United States of America (USA) economic policy, staking the claim that President Biden administration’s economic and “poverty alleviation” policies are “revolutionary.”

He contrasted the USA’s ‘Child Tax Credit’ which facilitates a maximum US$300 monthly payment to most American families for each child which is estimated to cut child poverty by half in the USA to the education cash grant for context.

“One of the most important obstacles in the past to social security, or social help, or assistance in the form of cash grants or otherwise, has been the reactionary excuses oppressors have used for centuries to sustain their oppression of the enslaved, indentured, poor and disadvantaged, which is today referred to as the dependency syndrome,” Ramkarran said.

He clarified that in simple terms, ‘dependency syndrome’ is where help is extended to families from poor backgrounds to improve their conditions and they become ‘dependent’ on the help to the extent where they lose initiative to help themselves.

“This theory was not only confined to conservatives and reactionaries. It has held sway over many who have themselves, by their own efforts, made successful lives. They argue that if only ‘those people’ would not complain, would work, rather than rely on ‘charity,’ or ‘handouts,’ they would succeed,” he penned.

However, the attorney-at-law highlighted that the current evidence “has smashed the myth of the dependency syndrome and destroyed the arguments of its advocates”.

Ramkarran drew attention to the “great success” of the ‘bolsa familia’ programme implemented in Brazil through which ‘cash grants’ substantially reduced poverty and further highlighted that similar programmes have been successfully implemented to varying degrees all over the world.

He also quoted the Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman who in a July 15, 2021 New York Times stated “…economists have assembled a great deal of data pointing to the benefits of public spending, especially aid to families with children”.

Subsequent to cumulating the arguments he proposed to support his contention, Ramkarran expressed that he was “horrified” to read Norton’s letter as he opined that “if this is the kind of extremist views, plucked out of the dungeon of Mr. Norton’s political mind, that he will bring to the PNC/R if he wins the leadership, then God help us.”

Norton has since responded to Ramkarran claiming that he did not oppose the cash grant, rather he argued for more money to be distributed and for a more comprehensive approach.

“Clearly, Mr Ramkarran missed the point. If I said in my letter that the cash grant is inadequate to address the key objectives of ensuring children access education then it follows ipso facto that I am saying that there is need for our people to get more money. Nowhere in my letter did I oppose cash grants,” Norton said.