By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

OFFICE of the Prime Minister director of communications Latrae Rahming yesterday defended the government’s decision to reallocate $25,000 from the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities to memorials at Baha Mar for the late Obie Wilchcombe.

He claimed the money budgeted for the commission was never intended for disabled people but rather to help the commission generate policies.

The reallocation of funds was noted in the book about the government’s mid-year budget performance.

Mr Rahming said the disabilities commission has the budget to do its job. “There have been criticism that the government is removing funds for persons with disabilities like this was a fund to provide assistance to those who are disabled,” he said. “The work of the national commission is to ensure that the provisions in the Disability Act and the rights of the disabled in The Bahamas is protected and carried out. So their work has not been impacted.”

“When there are circumstances where any government agency or entity have a very important policy item, policy initiative to the interest of Bahamians, particularly those who are vulnerable, there’s never a time they aren’t able to get the kind of funding assistance they need to execute that assistance.”

Nonetheless, critics, including Free National Movement Senator Maxine Seymour, expressed outrage that the government would take “scarce resources” allocated to a “vulnerable population” to pay for a memorial.

“Yes, we respect and honour our leaders, but not by robbing those in dire need,” she said. “Social Services should have requested an extraordinary budget from finance instead of reallocating sums approved by Parliament for the specific purpose of assisting the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities. Those funds need to be returned immediately and in excess.

“Of all the places to confiscate money from, why deprive this group of citizens instead of cutting another budget line? The commission was only allotted $267,284 for this fiscal year, which was already insufficient and now we learn that ten per cent of it was wasted on decorations and hors d’oeuvres at a hotel.

“This administration proves every day that while they mouth principles, like compassion and integrity, their actions say something else. Persons with disabilities need more support, not less. We need to amend legislation to allow for the enforcement of disabled parking infractions, increase parking signs, retrofit government buildings to make them accessible, construct an assisted living facility for adults with disabilities, among other priorities.”