Monday, January 12th, 2009: The New National Party says that the decision taken by GRAVEL AND CONCRETE to increase the price of beach sand is another demonstration of the Government’s continued effort to impose severe hardship on the backs of the poor and vulnerable.
 
 The NNP believes that this decision would have negative implications for the poor and persons who are in the process of building their homes, but will also result in a reduction in the construction job. This further affect the truck drivers and owners, the mason the carpenter and almost everyone involved in the construction field.
 
 The NNP strongly condemns the action of GRAVEL AND CONCRETE to stock pile the beach sand and increase the price from $34 to $88 per cubic yard for the purpose of making profit. The NNP also condemns the manner in which the price increase was done especially since the present NDC Government continues to preach “public consultation” which was never done with the builders, truckers and consumers in general.
 
 In addition the NNP says it is interesting to note that the new chairman of the board who is the current chairman of the NDC has lead to process to take such a harsh decision after publicly expressing its party’s desire to reduce the rising cost of living and to help the poor and vulnerable.
 
 Meanwhile, the New National Party is appalled at the type of treatment meted out to the elderly citizens by the Tillman Thomas administration.
 
 The party believes that while there is nothing wrong with reregistering persons for the Public Assistance Programnme, it is inhumane to force disabled persons as well as those who are confined to their homes for health reasons, to visit an office to reregister. The Government must also be aware that there are persons who have no one to collect a form for them and many who are still unaware of the new requirements.
 
 The New National Party empathize with the many senior citizens of the country who are treated in this way and believes that the government could use resources available and send officers to the homes of such persons to complete the new forms.
 
 At the same time, members of Her Majesty’s Opposition are calling on the Government to extend the time given for persons to reapply for the programme.
 
 The Opposition is concerned about the many persons who are unaware of the deadline given to reapply. In addition, many persons on the programme will not be able to leave their homes and will have to depend on others to collect the form and return it for them.
 
 It is therefore making an appeal on behalf of such persons and hopes that Government is not using the process as a strategy to reduce the amount of persons on the list so it can meet the commitment to increase the monthly payment by $50.00 after promising an increase to $400.00 during the July 2008 election campaign.
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