As members of the country’s poor and vulnerable communities continue to grapple with the financial challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Labour Minister Karl Samuda has pledged to set aside $100 million to provide aid to these individuals.

According to Samuda, “time cannot be spent dilly-dallying about giving assistance to the poor and the needy”.

For this reason, “we (the labour ministry) have set aside $100 million to be provided for members to identify and be able to give support for the poor and vulnerable within their constituencies”.

The labour minister made the announcement during his 2021-2022 Sectoral Debate presentation in the House of Representatives today (April 27).

In making his announcement, Samuda clarified that the allocation would not be coming as an additional expense to the government but was instead procured through a realignment of the labour ministry’s existing budget.

“The money is coming from within our existing budget. We have done a realignment because we recognise that it is absolutely urgent,” said Samuda.

He added: “This is a programme designed to enable members of parliament to have the flexibility to do the things that are necessary to bring relief to the suffering people within their constituencies.”

Given this, Samuda said that he was “relying on our partners within the political environment to safeguard these funds and to use them wisely”.