Book Discussion Scrutinizes Other Factors of Political Handouts

The launch of Doctor Vernon’s book brought up other factors, such as genuine social problems that force voters to seek political assistance. Kathy Esquivel, who was in attendance and who has in the past served in several key capacities, has pointed out that the matter is gender-based because women, mostly single mothers, are in need of assistance because of their household dynamics. But it does not necessarily mean that politicians who help are rogue.

Kathy Esquivel

Kathy Esquivel, Former Chair, National AIDS Commission

“Women, essentially, are usually responsible for day-to-day survival. They need to find somewhere to live, how to put food on the table, how to keep the kids in school, so they are the ones that are asking for these small favours, but as Dr Vernon said, men tend to be asking for big favours. And politicians, a lot of them, don’t like to do it and they want to do good things, but you can’t do good things if you don’t win elections and to win elections, there are certain constraints, so I like the idea of trying to find structural changes, like it’s not because of individual bad actors, although there are some of those too. But it’s a structural problem and I’m sure Dr Vernon has higher-powered opinions on that.”