Alarmed at the large number of applications it was receiving for licences to operate liquor restaurants, the Board of Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) reached out to the Ministry of Social Protection in a bid to tackle the issue of alcohol consumption and alcoholism because of the adverse effect these have on the country’s social fabric, but received what some have described as a shocking response from Minister Volda Lawrence.
While the housing authority had hoped that its January 29, letter would have triggered a collaborative effort to fight the scourge, which has also been a burden on the health sector for quite some time now, the minister’s May response basically indicated that until a study is done to show a correlation between the consumption of alcohol and delinquency in society and the public health such a collaboration cannot be had.
Efforts to contact the minister for a comment proved futile as it was
