Senator Keisal Peters has delivered a blistering critique of the current administration’s handling of social services, describing the intensifying victimization of workers and the vulnerable as “quite alarming”.
Speaking on Tuesday’s On De Record program on Star Radio, Peters revealed that she is inundated weekly with desperate calls from citizens who find themselves locked out of assistance from the ministry responsible for social development.
From mothers of children with disabilities who feel they are being given the “runaround” to families struggling to care for elderly parents, the Senator painted a portrait of a nation where the traditional safety nets are rapidly falling away.
She contrasted this current state of “administrative silence” with her own tenure as Minister of National Mobilisation, where active partnerships with nursing homes ensured that the vulnerable were not just heard, but actually placed in care.
The Senator’s concerns extend beyond current inefficiencies and into a fearful future marked by looming austerity. While the government has defended its stance by claiming it does not have a “bottomless pit of money,” Peters warned that the “homegrown” economic program currently being drafted signals a painful era of belt-tightening.
Despite IMF reports suggesting protection for the poor, Peters remains deeply skeptical, arguing that the most vulnerable sections of society are already feeling the bite of a program that has not even been fully implemented yet.
As a review of the public assistance list continues with no clear end date, Peters is calling for an urgent shift in priorities, demanding that the government provide at least a “semblance of a response” to those who are currently being left behind.