The PNCR has described the $1,000 a month that would be paid to 700 single parents as a contribution to day care fees as “grossly inadequate” since the average cost a month for day care is $4,000.
Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand had made the announcement in an interview with this newspaper that was published in the Sunday Stabroek last week.
At its weekly press conference yesterday the party said that the announcement made for “disappointing reading” and called on the government to revise the figure “upwards without any undue delay.”
The minister had said that $8M was earmarked for this purpose and the parents would be given cheques for $9,000 which would represent the contribution for the rest of the year. She stated also that at the end of the year it would be decided whether the fund would be continued next year.
The PNCR noted that from their calculations the total cost for assisting 700 parents for the next nine months would be $6.3M, leaving $1.7M unutilized. It called on the minister to tell the “Guyanese public what would have happened to this residual sum of money.”
The party also noted that out of the 30,000 applicants only 700 were considered to be qualified for assistance from the fund. “It would be helpful if the Ministry of Human Services can inform the public how it arrived at this decision,” the party said.
Minister Manickchand had told Stabroek News that for the single parents to benefit from the fund they had to be on the database and this was a good process as they wanted to avoid any accusation “that there was a subjective determination as to who must benefit.”
To receive the $1,000 the single parent must be earning an income of under $30,000 a month, maintaining at least two children and have day care as an expense.
In addition to the $8M another $50M has been set aside to assist single parents by training and equipping them with a skill and to assist them in starting small businesses.
“We are giving them $1,000 a month to assist with day care.
Now the average day care is $4,000 [a month] so we are giving them a 25 per cent assistance and that is to help parents who are already working to stay working [and] continue to contribute to Guyana’s development,” the minister had said.
Told that some persons might criticize the amount of the assistance given, the minister said: “While it sounds like a small amount it is 25 per cent of what you have to pay.
We had made it very clear from the get go — from the registration process — when we announced that we are going to start this that we cannot meet all of the needs of all of the single parents at any one go, so we are going to have to determine… Remember this is what parents said they wanted, some parents said they wanted this.”
The minister pointed out that $1,000 a month was better than no assistance.
“It is 25 per cent of what you have to pay. I mean if you were paying $20,000 and we were give you $1,000 then that would be a little ridiculous,” the minister observed.
