PPM calls for case by case assessment on stipend
(CNS): Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart has criticised the PACT Government for its handling of the tourism stipend and its efforts to reduce the number of recipients, as the PPM responded to the government’s last-minute U-turn. Following a backlash from people who were told that they would no longer be receiving the money, the government introduced a transition process instead for those now back in work.
But McTaggart said the individual circumstances of the recipients should be assessed before anyone loses their money and PACT needs to make the system fairer.
While 600 people are said to be back in work, many are still on shorter hours or are earning only a fraction of their previous salaries, in some cases less than the hourly minimum wage because they are not getting the tips that the law allows as a top-up for low paid workers.
Government officials initially wrote to these stipend recipients last week telling them they would no longer receive the payments. However, a few days later, following a considerable number of complaints, the government reconsidered the situation and is now paying the same workers a reduced grant of $1,000 this month and then $750 in March before they undertake another review.
But the opposition said the government should assess the 600 plus recipients to determine their individual circumstances “before making random cuts”.
There have been concerns that some people have been receiving the stipend while working full time on a full income but the fraud has not been widespread and Labour Minister Chris Saunders has said there are no plans to prosecute people who have dishonestly drawn the stipend.
While the opposition backed the idea of clearing up the list to eliminate from it those who are fully employed and making sufficient money to meet their commitments, McTaggart said the review process had to be correct and “it must be fair to ensure that government is doing right by people whose lives have been turned upside down”.
The decision to cut the stipend had been based on a recent survey. This followed one conducted last year by the tourism ministry that had demonstrated that many recipients were in older people. The opposition leader pointed out that it would be hard for many of them to find jobs paying more than they earned from tourism.
McTaggart suggested that government should now look more closely at what people are earning, even if they have managed to get some form of work.
“The fact that the deputy premier was prepared to remove them altogether, before the hue and cry began, illustrates that he did not think this through sufficiently,” McTaggart said, noting that the minister had not provided any updated statistics.
“So how certain can he be that their current ‘full employment’ provides them sufficient income, particularly as we are entering a period of increasing cost of living? Government should have interviewed the impacted stipend recipients first to determine whether their circumstances warranted the continuation of a stipend payment.”
He urged the government to assess the situation of stipend recipients individually before making any reductions in their money or taking anyone off the list.
“The government should provide the statistics from their updated Tourism Stipend Survey,” the opposition leader said. “Let the public, including the stipend recipients, understand what the changing circumstances are.”
During his appearance at the press briefing on Thursday, Saunders had described the situation surrounding the stipend payments as a “little bit of a hiccup” and said that the government expected some complaints about changes as they work through the process of transition.
But the minister said that the government was working on a major campaign to promote jobs for Caymanians and that the WORC jobs website was under review.
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Category: Business, Local News, Tourism
If only someone would report on what’s really going on. Like the fact the responsibility for the stipend was taken away from one MP who recently who added a few hundred of his constituents to the list and cut off a few hundred non supporters. More PACT politricks people.
We need a better set of MPs; no PPM or PACT members. We need to be able to vote for the Ministers according to their qualifications and principles for each Ministry. Our general election should be structured that we vote for the individuals as they choose which Ministry they are qualified to head up. That way the ppl get to choose who will represent them and it would not be the power-hungry, elite-loving, sold-out individuals we have now from PACT and PPM : with the exception of MPs Ebanks and Saunders, who same to be doing all they can within their ministries and making some head way. We will need good opposition too to keep the balance, as with anything. I really wish we could/would cut back on their paychecks like they are ready to cut back on the Tourism stipend….after all they choose to be a MP (I know it was the pay that drew them to this position, though) and it was not by choice the ppl choose to have no Tourism jobs. As for adjust their lifestyles according to their means, and I agree there are some who can practise that, but what about those who were making hand over fist in money and invested in building/expanding their businesses according to their demand of the product/service they provided….will you tell them to sell their expanded homes, tourism businesses/vehicles/boats/watercrafts/equipment? What about those whose careers they never got to start in this industry? Or those that got two more children they had because they once could afford them? Who would buy/pay for these, you? How do you all suggest they survive on a $1,500 stipend with the cost of living as high as it is in Cayman? Unnah worse than MP McTaggart at least he is paid to ask questions and “complain” if he see something not right…unnah got more complaints than a hypochondriac, but can’t give no solutions. Unnah need to stop the yapping and go find a productive hobby that will help diversify the Cayman product economy like gardening and farming or crochet, knitting, thatch plaiting or macrame in case you all end up having to rely on Tourism when it comes back… and it will but probably not as robust and/or as quickly. @8:29pm…I wish I could give you a hundred thumbs up, your comment shows you have very good sense and your eyes are wide open!!
Some students on CIG scholarships received funds under this program simply because they were employed in tourism prior to moving to UK for college. CIG needs to cross check their internal databases.
Ppm…go fly a kite! U guys destroyed this country…pactvtrying help us…
The PPM despite it’s constant efforts to try to remain relevant were the ones that original set this stipend up with no rules, regulations or for that matter proper funding. All you needed to say was that you worked in tourism and you were handed $1500. Now they are complaining that the new government is trying to fix and regularize this mess. Millions of dollars have gone out to people who are either undeserving and even some don’t live here and still having funds deposited into their accounts.
This is still a necessity for some but please don’t tell me that the numbers can continue to be as high as they have ever been. Many people have gone back to work and if they are making significantly less than before then they should be supplement but there has to be an end point. There have been times in my life where I lost my job and had to take on a job for lesser pay but everytime I adjusted my lifestyle to suit my expenses. If you are making $2000 a month but you were making $2500, why should you be getting $1500 more per month in stipend? Further why should the government be made to keep you in your lifestyle?
Let’s sort through this and ensure that the people who really need it are getting it and those that are taking advantage are cut off now.
Nau need to stop giving these asylum scions assistances who clearly are fleecing the system ! When is the Auditor General going to look into the ppm Food card fraud ??? Or shall it too be subjected to the diversions by Leak inWestigation scam by the Governor. Austin wey u deh bra ??
I will say this, there were alot of other people that were affected by the pandemic closures and job redundancies that were not in the hospitality industry and no financial arrangement was made for them why are these people allowed to get away with theft like the saying goes what is goose is good for the gander I thought this was so unfair and double standard and I am local, many many other people suffered financially and got no help
You tell em Roy – PPM all the way!!!!
sounds like vote buying to me
…all the way to the backbench!
When is it finally coming to the bank ??? Keep hearing something new every day. Why wasn’t it in today?
PPM needs to stop criticising everything. If these people have found employment it is therefore high time that the stipend end. We simply just cannot afford to carry everyone. We must not become welfare state!
The PPM money grubbers are trying to make the working Caymanians believe they are going to keep on giving them free money. I think they are liars and are only interesting in getting more for themselves.
First time I agree with Sleepy.
The beauty of doing nothing is that you can do it perfectly. Only when you do something is it almost impossible to do it without mistakes. Therefore people who are contributing nothing to society, except their constant criticisms, can feel both intellectually and morally superior
Mr. Irrelevant is back at it again.
LOL PPM were never transparent after 8 years in charge but now want it!. SMH
Well said
Go away and ppm we do not need another dart owned government
You think that has changed- if not Dart then someone else.
We already have another one. Pact is not better and they are proving that every day
PACT, despite all it’s shortcomings, is better than PPM.
PPM was oppressive and operated like a dictatorship favoring the elite.
PACT is just not operating as unified team with common goals amongst all MPs.
PACT, unlike PPM, is not persecuting and oppressing Caymanians.
Cayman needs a “real alternative” to what we have had for, at least, the last quarter century.
So true.
When can seniors receive 1,500 a month from their own money?
PPM cannot be trusted they sold out to the highest bidders and only bothered with the elite and their friends. Cayman cannot afford another PPM government they gave away the country on the cheap but fatten their personal accounts. Look at the contracts they signed and who really benefitted it was never the majority of the Cayman public.
Well said
As a matter of fact, look at the Purchase Agreement between CIG (signed by the Attorney General) and the Cayman Islands Legal Practitioners Association (CILPA), which illegally subsidized CILPA to the tune of CI$2.1 million for ultra vires AML functions, which attempted to allow lawyers (spearheaded by the big firms) to unlawfully and unconstitutionally regulate lawyers.
As it turns out, CILPA was attempting to shield the Offshore Magic Circle law firms (and other firms) from profit-earning activities and oppressively persecute Caymanian attorneys.
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Nepotism? Corruption? Why? For the sake of power and profit?
Stay out of it, try and win the next election to have a say. Just sit back and enjoy the free ride and money.
You’re telling the opposition (the only team able to hold our government accountable and to task) to stay out of it?
You need educating, and quickly too.
So true….our people need to be educated…..opposition is the People’s watchdogs.
Keep up the good jobs 👏👏 this poor PACT government needs all the help they can get. Did you notice Minister Ebanks is the only Ministry making headway and he is on his own, don’t associate himself with other Ministers
First, the PPM caused a devastating disaster, which PACT is now tasked with cleaning up.
Second, the Opposition, in truth, has not usually done a great job, aside from Arden, Ezzard, Chris and Kenneth. So, if there were ever, at least minimally, a watchdog, it was last term (not now, because PPM are a national disgrace).
Third, Minister Ebanks (not sure which one you’re referring to), whether Andre or Jay, are doing great. The best performing Ministers in the PACT Govt. have the surname “Ebanks”.
Fourth, what is this “PPM” holier than thou nonsense. PPM are the biggest sellouts in the history of Cayman politics.
You’re entitled to your opinion, but not entitled to praise the biggest political failure ever in the history of the Cayman Islands, which is the PPM!
I hope that, like Saint Pete, you see the light and turn away from your support of evil and repent.
It’s never too late to do the right thing! Ball’s in your court: catch!