Redirected grant funds being blamed for burglaries
A discretionary fund that was removed from the purview of lawmakers and the House of Assembly (HOA) and put under the supervision of the Social Development Department (SDD) is now being blamed for the increase in burglaries that the territory has been seeing in recent months.
Third District Representative Julian Fraser suggested that the removal of those funds from the hands of lawmakers is directly related to the worrying trend that has evoked concerns at the level of the National Security Council (NSC).
“When people are going to break into a store that’s closed at four o’clock in the morning, what can he expect but a float?” Fraser questioned at a recent Opposition press conference. “Float is $300, $200, and this is not going to stop.”
He added: “When 13 members of the House of Assembly had at their disposal $1,725,000 to assist — believe me, it was to assist people and that’s what we did. We assist people with it. From funerals, hospital bills, education, food.”
Fraser said elected officials are consistently asked for vouchers by their constituents and they willingly assisted over the years with their needs.
“You take that [discretionary fund] out of circulation and tell me that you’re not gonna find these things (burglaries) happening,” the veteran lawmaker said.
Fraser further argued that the removal of those funds impacts other persons around the territory as well.
“You may not be the one that got the $300 from me. But it was your neighbour. Your neighbour is not getting that $300 anymore, so he’s coming to you for that $300. So it impacts us all,” he argued.
He added that many persons are no longer making the money they earned traditionally now that the government has discontinued bush-cutting petty contracts after it came under scrutiny during the Commission of Inquiry.
“The government established a programme that put you out there with teams of 10 people. They tell you that a team will work for two months. Each person will get $100 and they don’t recycle the team,” Fraser said.
He continued: “After two months you’re on the street, you got nothing to do. What’s, the logic behind that? Two months, at $100 a day, you only made $2,000 for the year. You can’t work until next year. No, they have to come up with a plan.”
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The ignorance
If you lot raised the minimum wage to a livable amount there would be no need for assistance. Giving money out with no oversight is not the answer; raising the standard of living is!
Put forth real solutions like price control, help us get to a reasonable cost of living. Reduce some of them taxes yall killing us with, like nhi. Advocate for better salaries for people with credentials, especially from government. Stop wasting tax payer money doing nonsense. Roads need repairing from east to west. Sure you could use some laborers.
Comments like these from the Hon member for the 3rd clearly shows why BVI is in such bad shape. He is well past his sell by date and this is from a veteranlegislator who is supposed to make laws to empower persons and raise the quality of life!! Father send help
The old man is crying because he can’t buy votes anymore. If Social Development isn’t doing its job, fix that. Giving politicians unregulated and unsupervised funds is not the answer, nor are bush cutting contracts. None of that has any relationship with burglaries.
he is saying that this now banned discretionary fund was just furthering the lifestyle of many amateur criminals in the BVI. Seems like a criminal conspiracy for the HOA members to disperse money to various individuals for ‘bushcutting’ when the criminal intent for burglary was also present.
It was always suspicious when the discretionary fund bushcutters always wandered up private driveways and footpaths to private homes and apartments during the day when the occupants were at work. It seemed that they were collecting info for a future home/apt. visit during the day for a criminal purpose
Like it was said before Julian Fraser if you don’t have anything other than BS to say SHUT UP, all of you want the old system back so you can do what you want to do with the people’s money and most of the time it’s your family and friends are the ones who receives help and don’t really need it. The COI was good for the BVI.
Wages go up, prices escalate to offset the increase. What will you do when cereal hits $20/box? Bread at $12…no price control, no reductions in import duties…we are screwed!
ALL THESE NEWS SITES ALWAYS PROTRAY FRASER IN A NEGATIVE WAY
That’s not the reason for the burglaries, those old people who were getting help aren’t climbing thru anyone’s windows. I understand the politicians want their old system back b/c it empowered them, but they abused it thru lack of transparency and so one broad brush swept away the good with the bad. Change is part of life, who can’t adapt die.
INSTALLED ALL TRAFFIC LIGHTS…MADE CELLPHONE CALLS AFFORDABLE…24 HOUR WATER SUPPLY…TWO SEWAGE PLANTS…INSTALLED UNDERGROUND SEWAGE PIPES IN ROAD TOWN BY ROBATIC MEANS WITHOUT INTERUPTING THE TRAFFIC…TOOK THE HOG OUT OF HOG CITY…COVERED THE GHUT BY THE HORSE TRACK SO PEOPLE COULD BE OUT OF THE MUD PUDDLE ETC ETC……………HE DILIVERED THE GOODS…SO HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT.
Look how much of us out here struggling as well and still wont steal nothing from nobody this not no excuse to bring back that old system that was utterly abused. They stealing because they are thieves. It got people out here working 2 and 3 jobs. Find work for locals and stop issuing all these work permits. The solution is not to bring back the hand outs and favor system.
If every healthy adult work for a living there should be no burglaries in the territory. its the lazy set set who dont want to work and is thiefing what people worked hard for. dont defend them
When you raise minimum wage, employers have to pay more, they will transfer that cost to their good and services so the you the customer will pay more.
It does not work, we need strong price control, lower inport tariffs and rent control as well
If we are going to allow people to burglarize their neighbors on the premise that government didn’t help them enough, then we can allow citizens to own firearms for protection of their property from such thieves. Only fair right?
So the Minister is saying that unless these criminals get free money courtesy of the taxpayer they will inevitably turn to crime.
What a sad indictment of the BVI this is!
The Grant-moneys had been used to built retaining walls and drive ways for family and cronies and help them out, not for the good of the community.
Young Black males are thieves but would by pass the breaking and entering if their freebies,compliment of taxpayers are delivered to them directly by the ” Honorable” elected Thieves with whom they share a physical likeness.
Guess What!
Fraser is being truthful.
Evidence: These thieves are never caught,charged or prosecuted.
Not even when found in the home in action and the license plate is given to the police along with make model and colour of the getaway transport .
This Julian & and the other Julie-an who wants overthrow him , has something in common / they both making a LOT of NoISE and ain’t saying anything ( and as we awaits that SHOWDOWN between former buddies ) one wants to fight the COI and the other wants to chase the COI ) no wonder the so called OPPOSITION should not UNITE and form the GOVERNMENT / it would of been a rat race ( I think the LADY did the right thing ) those wannabe aristocracts would have thrown her in the gabbage
IF YOU ALL USED TO LISTEN TO HON FRASER WE WONT BE IN THESE PREDICAMENTS TODAY…..I REMEMBER WHEN HE WANTED TO CUT OFF WORKPERMITS AFTER 7 YEARS AND ALL OF YOU ALL SAID THAT HE DIDN’T LIKE OUTSIDERS NOW WE GOT PEOPLE HERE FOR OVER 30 YEARS AND HAVE TO GIVE OUT BELONGERSHIPS….SEE NOW WE ARE OUTNUMBERED 4 TO 1
Thieves will be thieves regardless. These thieves have no shame. You give them handouts, they will still thief because that is who they are.
Also responsible for wars in Ukraine and Palestine. What BS
YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT FRASER NEVER SAID OR DONE NOTHING RIGHT? WHY AYO THINK HE IS IN THERE SO LONG THEN? ITS BECAUSE THE PEOPLE OF THE 3RD KNOW WHAT HE DID AND CAPABLE OF DOING. HE ALWAYS DELIVERING FOR HIS PEOPLE WHETHER YOU VOTE FOR HIM OR NOT. IF I WAS HIM, I WOULD RUN UNTIL I BREAK RALPH’S RECORD AS THE LONGEST SERVING LEGISLATURE. THE NEWS NEVER PRINT NOTHING GOOD THAT FRASER SAYS OR DOES
Before Riteway was sold to that Canadian company, the money stayed more in the BVI supporting other businesses of all kinds. Now not just the biggest supermarket and food wholesaler but is selling everything to compete with all local businesses and the money goes to Canada. That also affects the economy. The company has been told to stick to their trade licence being a supermarket and not sell gifts and electrics etc but they don’t care at all.
I haven’t see or hear what he has done, and I am guessing you ain’t about o tell us. Seacows Bay got some of the worst roads in the BVI. Am believing that would never fix. Road users should call for a removal or give a time period when the roads would fix or give rebate to all road users.
There is always a way to teach a man to fish, but if you always give the fish to the man, he will never learn how to fish. And so, the dependency is to always go where the fish is. But the correlation of burglarized businesses is now been affected because some lazy people don’t want to fish and politicians want to continue to give free fish to Thieves. Well sar! You call Uk to fix the system, now it’s fix , you want to go back the old way. No no no way!
While Lorna wait to see if the Consumer protection laws including Trade commissioner the people in the country go hungry and cannot buy groceries
Where is her priority?
Her brothers are also the beneficiaries of dragging the implementation of the policy while the people fall more into poverty
Only a country of talk and no backbone to take action , implement them because down the road the benefits is for eithet some close or distant relatives
Nothing will get better
BULL $HIT HEADLINE
Bvi la k of leadership is responsible for all these issues and more. I recall when the Doctor from the 7th district announced that Labour Department had Broken the Million Dollar mark from Work Permits in other words, Government had Discovered a Third Economic pillar. Not long after Pickerings proud announcement Trade Department also announced that it to, had also broken through the Million Dollar intake. The government’s first Regularised number of non Bvislanders was 1500 and every month it continues to grow. Meanwhile the governor keeps insisting that we need to Regularise over another 2,000. I have several local friends, construction men who cant find work due, I’m sure the huge Construction companies constantly importing workers, (some not paying the standard rates). No one needs to be a Rocket Scientist to read between the lines and see the real issues No one nedds a Hubble Space Telescope to analyse the challenges. They are there skin bare.
As far as the COI, the only thing wrong, it should have been 5 to 10 years earlier. The leader of the VIP himself told us that “If we don’t Police Ourselves, we would be policed in ways we wouldn’t like”. The man was looking through a Magnifying glass. Needless to say The Chickens are now Comfortably chilling out in their Roosts. BVILove. OneBVI