When the New National Party demitted office after the July 8th elections, there were several social safety net programmes in place that provided much needed and greatly appreciated relief to people with great need. Many of the people affected are families with little to no flexibility in their household income to accommodate the soaring cost of living or sudden changes to their monthly support/income. These programmes provided critically needed assistance to the most vulnerable persons in our society by giving people access to basic needs while also supporting them with longer term programming. This article will be focused on the programmes that provided for people's most immediate needs, because the immediate impact is what is felt first, and the people who were once supported by these programmes are suffering greatly now. The Food Basket Programme, which has been put on hold by the new Government, provided vouchers valued at $100, $150 and $200 for vulnerable families. The families could present their vouchers at participating stores to cover the expense of their groceries. The programme was designed this way to ensure that these people were not deprived of the dignity of doing their own shopping and making their own consumer choices simply because they had need. The programme was also designed so that items such as cigarettes and alcohol could not be purchased with the vouchers. Most middle class families know that a modest grocery bill for a family of four can barely be less than $250 a week and a well-to-do family could easily spend $500 a week, particularly if they are buying imported food, so the loss of this assistance will be hurting these families a lot. The School Book Programme, which has also been cancelled, targeted vulnerable students who were identified by the Principal's and counselors of the schools, as well as those who chose to fill out an application form. This programme provided all the textbooks needed for students without any stringent penalties for damage to books. This is because the realities of poor households often include many people sharing a small space, roofs and windows leaking in bad weather, no current and many other conditions that could make maintaining the condition of the books very difficult. The Transportation Programme provided bus fare for needy students to ensure that poverty did not become a barrier for them to attend school. This programme by extension also provided income for bus operators which helped them cope with the soaring cost of fuel, by keeping the buses full. The School Book and Uniform Programme was a voucher programme that targeted elementary school children. The maximum value of the vouchers was $300, and it was designed to protect the important social ritual of school shopping parents and children do together in September when the school year begins. Because it was a voucher programme, it also provided the opportunity for the parents to decide whether to use the voucher on books or the uniform. The Housing Assistance and Materials Programme provided rent vouchers for people waiting for homes from the Venezuelan and Chinese housing developments. Putting this programme on hold is threatening to deprive people of access to shelter. Putting the materials programme on hold has stopped contruction work in progress, causing great discomfort for people, as well as prolonging the wait for people still waiting for repairs to their homes. The New National Party has been informed that all of these programmes have been on hold since the election, without replacement programmes. This is not acceptable. If we use a single headed household with four children, two of whom are in secondary school, and two who are primary school as an example: That family will have been deprived of $500 in food vouchers, $300 in uniform vouchers, and at least $300 in transportation assistance. In addition to this, the two children who are in secondary school will now have to purchase the remaining books needed which (depending on the number of courses taken) could cost as much as $800 each. The two elementary school students in this family will have had access to the free books provided, but these books would have been free for them anyway, so the positive impact isn't felt in relation to the losses, which in this scenario equals $ 2,700 dollars. Clearly, the Government of Grenada is not doing its job to protect the vulnerable people in our society. The New National Party would therefore like to ask the Minister of Education to tell the public how many people have actually collected the free school books that have been purchased with money that used to provide for the programmes described above. How many books have piled up in the schools? How much money was spent purchasing books for families that could afford them, rather than using that money for programmes described above? The New National Party would also like to caution the Minister to pay careful attention to the social indicators that will very quickly illustrate the consequences of their Government's decisions. We can expect to see a rise in the truancy rate, because families will not be able to pay for the bus to get to school. The Government will also have to pay careful attention to the sexual exploitation of young girls, as predators encourage girls to provide sexual favours in exchange for transportation, clothes, food and presents. The New National Party would like to caution the Ministry of Health to pay careful attention to the health conditions of these vulnerable families as the basic nutrition needs are no longer being met. Even in the span of two months since the election, the loss of assistance combined with an increase in costs can put many families nutritional balance over the edge. Children lacking basic nutrition will be unable to concentrate and perform well in school. Some may faint in the heat. The Ministry of Social Development must keep their eyes open for an increase in domestic violence and substance abuse, which are known to rise when stressors in family life increase – such as financial pressures. Therefore the Leader of the Opposition holds the view that the Government of Grenada must reinstate these programmes immediately. There is no excuse for not providing social safety nets when the Government has found so much money to spend on themselves for new vehicles, office furniture, and blackberries as well as the replacing the recently purchased furnishings in the Prime Ministers Residence. The New National Party would like to remind the National Democratic Congress that the first principle of good governance is taking care of the needs of the people first, and insist that steps be taken immediately to remedy their wasteful spending and their lack of investment in the people of Grenada. (The above is the perspective of the opposition New National Party. The views expresses are not necessarily those of Inside Grenada Newsteam).