P.U.P. on the Closure of Unemployment Relief Fund

Senator Michel Chebat decried in the senate the politicization of the food programmes to needy families during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. This afternoon, the P.U.P. said it was disappointed at the closure of the Government’s Unemployment Relief Fund last Friday.   According to a release, below fifty percent of those who applied had not received any assistance and thousands more are waiting to get the two or three hundred dollars to make ends meet. In respect of the food programmes, eight thousand of the thirty-one thousand applicants were approved, representing only a fraction of those who applied.   Thousands of families are still clamouring for food even though it has now come to light that ten million dollars have been set aside for the programme. The P.U.P. also notes that COVID-19 is revealing the real unemployment figures which do not correspond to the touted figures by the government.  It states, “This is less, the doing of any COVID-19 pandemic and more the result of a systemic governance failure, chronic corruption and unchecked gluttony by those trusted to lead the nation.” The opposition party also denounces the decision to reject offers from organizations such as the Belize Red Cross to assist at a time when relief must not be tied to politics.