$M ELECTION FOOD CARD GIVEAWAY

IN the run-up to the local government election, the Government spent the largest-ever sum on food cards and other social security benefits.

The Ministry of Social Development and Family Services was loaded up with its biggest budget, of $5.7 billion, after the supplementary allocation of $348,172,814 in May.

The hefty package allowed the Ministry to dish out food cards and various other benefits in what is seen as a widespread vote-getting exercise.

The current ministerial allocation is $700 million more than that of last year, when $5.2 billion was assigned.

In 2021, the Ministry received $4.9 billion, and in 2020, the allotment was $5.4 billion.

The budget for 2019 was $5.1 billion, for 2018, it was $4.6 billion, in 2017, the Ministry got $4.7 billion, and the allocation for 2016 amounted to $4.9 billion.

The Ministry has typically received between 8.6 per cent and 9.1 per cent of the national budget.

But this year, the allocation is 10.7 per cent of the budget of $61.1 billion.

There have been several recent reports of an increase in the delivery of the Ministry’s assorted financial aid.

Government Minister Camille Robinson-Regis recently insisted that the People’s National Movement (PNM) does not pay for votes.

Ms. Robinson-Regis said that social security grants are available “to all citizens who may be in need at all times throughout the year and is by no means the theme of the campaign.”

She stated that the issuance of the grants is subject to “rigorous checks and balances.”

She dismissed an allegation by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar that certain PNM candidates were inviting the electorate to apply through them for State grants.

Ms. Persad-Bissessar termed the action “political corruption.”

A PNM candidate admitted to a daily newspaper that he had advertised social security grants on a campaign flyer.

He stressed: “If what I am doing is wrong, I don’t ever want to be right.”

Other candidates have reportedly also been wooing voters through social security assistance.

Speaking during the election campaign on the distribution of social benefits, Ms, Persad-Bissessar criticised “when you take taxpayers’ money to give cash for votes to your supporters during an election campaign.”

She added: “They are picking pockets, depriving you and your family of what you worked hard for, to pay off voters and their election activists.

“That cannot be right.”

On the eve of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) last December, there were claims of disbursement of food cards and other social relief assistance.

The PNM admitted to million-dollar allocations to hotel proprietors on the island as part of Covid-19 aid to affected operators in the hospitality sector.

Ms. Persad-Bissessar said a total of $50 million released by the Ministry of Finance was “a war chest for the PNM.”

She stated: “$50 million on the eve of the election?
“You want to tell me this is not to buy votes!”

The National Commission on Self-Help distributed grants.

At Diego Martin, 30 people received purchase orders for between $15,000 and $25,000, for a total of $750,000.

Heavy pre-election spending is a longstanding feature of Trinidad and Tobago’s electioneering culture, and is referred to as rum-and-roti politics.