Official Launch

of

Contract 2002

Remarks

by

Lariett Josey-Dean

Coalition + Labour Candidate for Holy Cross

Wednesday April 23rd, 2002

 

The family is the foundation upon which safe communities and strong nations are built. Essential to strong families are good parents who accept responsibility for the socialization and rearing of their children. While the nuclear family is considered ideal, we are aware that other family structures have emerged.

Some of these structures are associated with social ills including domestic violence, undisciplined youth, teenage pregnancy and crime. We believe that the restoration of a stable family unit holds the key to solving many of these problems. This will require the support and participation of all the social partners including the Church, the school and other civic organisations.

A Coalition+Labour government will place special emphasis on the family, childcare, eldercare, fatherhood and teenaged parenting. We are committed to:

  • Making the difficult job of rearing children a little easier by instituting and formalising programs and incentives that provide the support needed for the survival of nuclear family groups.
  • Dispelling association of ageing with dependence, vulnerability, inactivity, neglect and even poverty. The elderly are too great a resource of knowledge wisdom and experience to be ignored.
  • Sensitising men, that fatherhood requires day-to-day involvement in the lives of children.
  • Arresting the rate of increase in teen pregnancy in The Bahamas.

There are many initiatives that we will seek to put in place on behalf of the Bahamian family, this afternoon, I will share only a few.

For the Family:

  • Create a Department of Family Services, which will serve as the umbrella under which all organisations, committed to transforming family life, could operate.
  • Implement a family planning policy.
  • Co-ordinate parenting classes and programmes for troubled youth.
  • Advise family members on a variety of family and domestic matters especially as they relate to health and nutrition, employment, budgeting and management of financial resources, educational and recreational concerns.
  • Monitor institutionalised homes for the elderly and troubled youths.
  • Investigate instances of child abuse and other instances of domestic violence.
  • Co-ordinate and provide counselling services for newlyweds and recently divorced couples.
  • Liase with Family Court to ensure that absentee parents are making the necessary financial and social contributions in the process of their children’s development.
  • Assist with family literacy projects.
  • Explore innovative ways of creating wholesome family orientated recreational activities.
  • Support and increased funding for Family Life and Health Programmes in schools.

For Parents and their Children:

  • Strengthen legislation that reinforces the family unit and parental responsibility – including the payment of child support and the accountability of parents for the behaviour of minors.
  • Provide funding and support for parenting classes and allow the courts and social welfare department to prescribe such classes where appropriate.
  • Provide support for approved, existing childcare programmes.

For our Elderly:

  • Implement the tenets of policy recommended by the National Council on Older Persons, including:
    • The discontinuation of the policy of withholding earned National Insurance benefits from retired elderly who have been re-employed, This includes the survivor’s benefit.
    • To provide or encourage the provision of adequate housing and care for the dependent elderly, including subsidy where necessary.
    • To promote the employment of skilled elderly to train and work with youth in communities.
  • Consult with the elderly and others with an interest in the welfare of the elderly, in the formulation of a National Policy for the Elderly.
  • Establish a Council of the Elderly that will provide advice to government on issues affecting the elderly and their families.
  • Develop a Prescription Drug Programme in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies, drug distributors and pharmacies for the elderly in the public and private health sectors.
  • Establish within communities an adopt-a-grandparent programme.

For Fathers:

  • Rally businesses, churches, schools and service clubs to focus on the importance of fathers in the lives of their children.
  • Implement a system to track delinquent fathers and deduct child-support payments from their salaries.
  • Institute a prescribed amount of paternity leave for fathers.
  • Devise means whereby the maternity ward of hospitals provide new fathers with kits containing useful resource material on meeting the needs of the new mother, caring for newborns and the rearing of young children.
  • Establish through Social Services a support network and special programmes for: fathers in High Schools; single fathers who are raising their children alone; and divorced/separated father seeking visitation rights.
  • Require the involvement of youth fathers in the PACE programme to ensure that they share responsibility for their unborn children.

For Teenaged Parents:

  • Increase funding for Health and Family Life Education in schools.
  • Encourage parenting classes/courses for mothers and fathers.
  • Organise a national Family Planning Programme.
  • Expand the PACE programme, and provide adequate facilities and staffing to cater to the needs of the clients.
  • Expand foster care programmes in New Providence, Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.
  • Encourage the establishment of adoption agencies to find suitable homes for unwanted children.

Of course in support of our families, we must ensure that every Bahamian family has access to affordable housing. Housing is one of the basic human needs. We believe that every Bahamian is entitled to live in good affordable housing. Coalition+Labour is committed to the implementation of an effective Housing Programme, as quality housing is critical to the maintenance of the dignity of our people.

We propose that the time has come for government get out of the business of housing construction, that its role will best be served as facilitator and regulator of private in contractors, as part of a government programme to providing housing to Bahamians.

We will establish a Housing Authority, which will regulate the nation-wide development of affordable housing. Through this Authority

We will:

  • Provide true ‘low cost’ housing for low-income families by developing appropriate housing models that can be sold for a cost of $50,000 or less.
  • Engage suitably qualified private developers to service existing applications held by the Department of Housing to jump start the process of providing affordable housing for the thousands of families who have been wait listed for many years.
  • Establish a system of incentives for developers providing housing for families of low income.
  • Administer the proper installation and maintenance of all utilities, drains, sewerage, roads, parks, easements and all other commonage areas in both government and private subdivisions.
  • Establishment and regulate minimum standards for all rental properties as it pertains to indoor plumbing, running water and sewerage; installation of electrical wiring and initial electrical connection; the condition of roofs, walls & floors; and the establishment of proper solid waste management (collection and storage).
  • Establishment a Rental Complaints Unit that will be responsible for ensuring that fairness prevails between landlords and tenants. This Unit will have the authority to investigate and rule on instances of unfair practices concerning the renting of units as well as non-payment of rent by occupants.
  • Disseminate relevant information to the general public to assist them in understanding the entire process involved in acquiring a home, alternative types of building construction and the financial and social factors associated with obtaining housing.

With these and other special initiatives, in particular those regarding our plans for education as it relates, to our pre-school and primary school children especially. Which are committed to building a solid foundation not only for learning, but also for the social and emotional development of our nation’s children. We believe that a Coalition+Labour Government would have put in place the means and opportunities by which are families can be strengthened, family values reinforced and heads of households empowered to provide the kind of living standards for themselves and their families, that would permit each of them to be meaningful contributors to the overall development of our society.


Return to CDR Policy & News