A major problem is facing Barbadians who are recipients of the island’s welfare services.
According to ex-Minister of Social Transformation in a previous Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration Hamilton Lashley, it is the systemic discrimination by some welfare officers.
Lashley made the charge on Monday night as he endorsed the candidature of Democratic Labour Party (DLP) hopeful Rodney Grant for the St Michael South East riding.
The social activist, who served as MP in the same constituency for four terms, posited that Grant was the right man to correct this injustice.
“There are some welfare officers in this country that leave a lot to be desired. The way they treat poor people, the way they belittle poor people, leaves a lot to be desired,” he added.
While calling for a change in the attitudes of these people, Lashley maintained that government was not to blame for this. Particularly, not the DLP Government, which he said has always argued that Barbados is more than an economy.
He said: “It is about caring for people. We have to care. You can’t treat people as chattel or animals and then pun a Sunday you gone long to church or pun a Saturday and praise God and feel that God gine hear you. And then pun Monday you wake up and [hurt] people. You can’t do that, you got to get serious. For all of you who have become victims of the social system in this country, that will be corrected because I have faith and hope in this young man [Rodney Grant].
“I have been called many things. I have been called a traitor, I have been called a grasshopper, I have been called many things but one thing that nobody can call me is being a traitor to the people of this country. People come first [after God],” Lashley added. (SDB Media)
