The noticeable presence of beggars on streets in major towns around the country was raised in Parliament, and questions were posed to the local government ministry on whether past initiatives had worked, and how it was addressing this issue.
While contributing to the debates on the Review of the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation 2017-2918 annual report, Opposition MP Aseri Radrodro this was a “nagging issue”, particularly at this time when people are faced with hardships.
He noted a Government initiative of a safe house set up for the homeless and wondered if it also included beggars.
“That was a good initiative but how it has been used to its full potential in having to look after the homeless that we see continue to improve, particularly if you finish from here and just take a drive around the main CBD, you will see the numbers of our people that are taken into the streets and actually spending the night there,” Mr Radrodro said.
Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Rosy Akbar said beggars had been on the streets of the capital cities and towns for a long time and every effort had been made to assist them in terms of trying to engage them in livelihood projects because that was one of the reasons given by the profiled beggars.
She said the ministry had also found that most of those beggars had serious mental issues and had been neglected by their families.
“Some are disabled, early in the morning the family members would bring them and put them on the streets on wheelchairs or on the ground in front of shops and some of them are able-bodied but they find it easy to live off the streets,” Ms Akbar said.
The Minister said there were more than 100 beggars on our roads, some who are known to the ministry slept on the streets.
“The efforts are still underway to ensure that we sort out a life for those that are suffering from mental illness. Our teams take them for medical but unfortunately when they come out from there, there is no family member who wants to take them up, so it is a challenge for us.”
She also added that the Good Samaritan Inn that was established a few years ago and was managed by a church was discontinued because of auditing-related issues.
