The figure is just fantastically staggering.
Our Government has allocated nearly $52 million to take care of citizens of the Cayman Islands who are deemed in need or vulnerable.
That figure is up from nearly $46 million allocated in the last fiscal year.
We think it’s admirable that as a country we are taking care of our own.
But we have to ask, just where is the money going?
Is the bulk of it going to pay administration costs or is most of it making its way to the actual people who need it?
That’s a huge chunk of change from the annual budget of the Ministry of Health and Human Services, in fact, it’s 77 per cent of that ministry’s operating budget for the year.
From the amount of callers to daily radio talk shows complaining that Government doesn’t do enough for the downtrodden, it was easy to assume the complaints were true.
If the bulk of the money is truly being spent on those who most need it, then the old saying that charity begins at home is certainly true in the Cayman Islands.
If, however, we learn that a large portion of the $51,895,374 is being spent on administration costs, we would humbly suggest that measures be taken to ensure more of the money actually reaches those in need and the most vulnerable.
Throwing money at a problem through administration rarely gets that problem fixed.
We also hope that serious efforts are being made to help the recipients of the government’s generosity become more self-sufficient and less vulnerable. Unless people are empowered to take care of themselves, the amount of money needed to support those in need will only continue to grow on a yearly basis.
The residents of the Cayman Islands should be proud as a society that we take care of our needy, but we should not be proud if we are a society producing more and more people in need.
Regardless, the residents of the Cayman Islands deserve a proper accounting of where the charity money is going, and how much is going into administration costs.
Health and Human Services Minister Anthony Eden has promised that he will find out just how much money is being spent in administration costs.
We anxiously await his findings.
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