The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net’

A Cabinet minister yesterday further highlighted COVID-19’s devastating impact on Bahamian society by revealing that his ministry’s budget has increased by 100 percent in the two years since he took office.

Frankie Campbell, minister for social services, told the House of Assembly during the mid-year Budget debate that his ministry has seen its funding double over that time due to the need for increased welfare and social assistance payments to Bahamians in need.

From just over $40m allocated in the annual budget when he first assumed responsibility for the ministry in mid-2019, Mr Campbell said it is now set to receive some $80m in the 2021-2022 fiscal year - with some $20m of this increase attributed to continued unemployment assistance post-September 2021.

Mr Campbell added: “I’m pleased to say that all of the work that is being done in the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development is being done throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. I want to ensure, and assure, our vendors in the Family Islands that our name is good. That our paper is good. That our vouchers are good and eventually the payments will arrive.”

Pointing to the challenges faced by landlords as a result of the pandemic, he added: “I need the Bahamian public to appreciate that we always give rental assistance. There was always a manageable number and they never all came at once.

“We found ourselves in a situation that we were not prepared for. The numbers were overwhelming. The numbers were coming from persons who had to close their offices because they, too, were affected and infected.”

Mr Campbell said the ministry had no offices to meet the needs of Grand Bahama residents because these had been destroyed in Hurricane Dorian. “There was no office, because that office was washed away. All the documents and files were washed away,” he added.

“All of their computers and telephones were washed away. The persons who had to man those offices also had their personal effects washed away. So we were overwhelmed at a time when we were confronted with victims while we ourselves were victims.”

Mr Campbell urged landlords, in particular, to exercise patience with distressed and jobless tenants, adding that the ministry is working to resolve the backlog of applications for rental assistance.

Turning to the ministry’s new digital platform, he added: “PROMIS is a digital platform that affords the Ministry of Social Services, in particular the department, to enter all of our requests without the use of paper, and then follow on the platform that request until it is actually resolved.

“Then be able to maintain a history of our clients that will enable us, if there is a future request, to be able to shorten the time of delivery because you are already in the system. The end product of PROMIS is intended to be where one is able to sit in the comfort of your home, or wherever it is you get your Wifi Internet, and be able to access all of our services.”