Social Transformation

Winning The War Against Poverty

The legacy of our colonial past was pervasive poverty and its ugly and disastrous consequences. The mandate of the people in electing governments to represent their interests has been a directive to their representatives to wage war on poverty and establish a new social and economic order that offered opportunities for Antiguans and Barbudans to develop themselves and their communities to the highest level possible in the context of their island location and environment.

Successive ALP Administrations repeatedly betrayed the people’s mandate, fostering policies that concentrated the nation’s wealth in the hands of the political elite and their cronies and flatterers, while fooling the masses into believing that the crumbs that fell to them from the elites’ tables were enough to give them the good life.

Thus, during the ALP’s misrule, large numbers of Antiguans and Barbudans, whose ambitions made it impossible for them to live in the narrow corridors prescribed by the ALP rulers, voted with their feet and fled to greener pastures. The indigenous population of the country declined steadily since Independence in 1981, and the ALP cynics encouraged a replacement of this indigenous population by vulnerable immigrants from the Caribbean and further afield, aggravating the situation of poverty and exclusion that confronted the country.

The UPP has laid the basis, through a set of policies and institutions, to tackle this legacy of poverty and social exclusion and thereby foster a new social order based on cohesion, respect for the right of every citizen to a decent life, and progress in achieving a consistently higher standard of living and quality of life for the nation as a whole.

Some initiatives already begun by the UPP in our drive to eradicate poverty, and which we are committed to strengthen during our second term, include:

Establishment of the Social Policy Unit: This is the main technical arm of the Ministry of Social Transformation and, in addition to other functions, manages the interaction and cooperation among key international, regional and local social partners and civil society in the fight against poverty.

Home Improvement Grant: This special monetary allowance provides maximum financing of $2,500 to low-income, elderly citizens, to maintain their properties in good condition. Since the launch in March 2007, some 80 persons have received assistance. In the upcoming term, the programme will be expanded to include indigent members of society and other persons who meet specified eligibility criteria.

Poverty Alleviation Grant: When the UPP took office after the 2004 general elections, it was appalled at the paucity of the assistance given to needy persons in the society. In fulfilling its mission of making the wrongs right a thorough investigation was mounted where several irregularities were discovered including a severely padded list of grantees. In addition to rectifying such abuses the UPP Administration established a new Board of Guardians and increased the fortnightly benefits as follows:

  • Elderly, mentally challenged and destitute from $45 to $100;
  • Children from $30 to $100; and
  • Visually impaired from $55 to $110

Vagrancy Control Programme: This project is designed to tackle the problem of homelessness in our society. A facility catering for vagrants in a holistic manner is to be established where the programme will offer housing, counseling and other treatment, as well as nutrition and hygiene needs in a safe and secure environment.

GRACE (Government’s Residential Assistance and Care for the Elderly and Eligible): This programme which is managed and coordinated by a nurse Manager serves to protect our elderly from abuse and hardship and ensure that they maintain their dignity by providing a number of social workers, known as Elder Care Assistants, to attend to the elderly in their homes.

Strengthening Communities Through “Ownership”

The UPP has spent its first term fighting to reclaim what was taken from the people of this country. In its second term, its focus will be on making sure that rip-offs of our assets are a thing of the past by inculcating a sense of ownership of institutions, communities and , ultimately, country.

The UPP administration will exert every effort to make communities responsible for their own quality of life. For instance, sporting organizations will be encouraged and assisted to assume oversight of their playing facilities through the identification of liaison officers who will monitor the use of lights, discourage littering, and deter antisocial behaviours such as vandalism,
defacing public property, and the playing of loud music at unreasonable hours.

Churches will be expected to extend their ministries beyond their four walls and, in particular, to preach the gospel of “cleanliness being next to godliness” by adopting stretches of roadways and beaches in their communities. They will be expected, as well, to be their “brother’s keeper” by referring those in need of elder, care, child protection, drug rehabilitation, and similar interventions to social-service providers.

Strengthening Families Through Gender Empowerment and Healthcare

The UPP recognizes that while many of the nation’s children are being reared in single parent households, all children deserve the support of both parents. Accordingly, this administration will ensure that the policies and measures identified in the Access to and Maintenance of Children Act, 2008, are speedily implemented.

To this end, the Ministries of Justice, Legal Affairs and Social Transformation will collaborate to streamline the collection of child-support payments and to ensure that both parents are afforded access in the best interests of their children.

We will also ensure that legal matters that affect the welfare and well being of minor children are dealt with expeditiously and justly by continuing our move towards the establishment of a dedicated Family Court that is strongly linked with the providers of social services.

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