UNICEF confirms that A&B’s children are among pandemic’s greatest victims, and UPP Senator lays blame at Govt’s feet

A recently published UNICEF report stating that Antigua and Barbuda is among the worst affected in the region by an increase in Family Poverty comes as no surprise to Senator Damani Tabor.

In the document titled “COVID-19 and Children–The Hidden Pandemic,” Antigua and Barbuda is listed among the five OECS countries that have seen the sharpest increase in the number of children living in poverty.

According to UNICEF, children are not the face of the pandemic but are among its greatest victims.  

Agreeing with the findings, Tabor says the Browne Administration has done nothing to support families during the pandemic. Rather, it has denied parents a pay cheque because they were not inoculated and refused to allow unvaccinated children in school.

It has been over eight years and, yet, this Administration has failed to bring any meaningful investment to get the economy moving, Tabor charges.

The Administration’s refusal to offer a stimulus to residents who lost their jobs in the pandemic – especially those in the hotel sector – contributed to the increase in family poverty, the Senator asserts.

Once again, Tabor stresses the significance of the United Progressive Party’s plan to implement its Maintenance of Minors (MOM) Programme, which is designed to assist struggling mothers while helping fathers to stay out of prison and find gainful employment to support their children.

Meanwhile, UNICEF reports that this country’s unemployment stands at 28.5 percent, which comes in the midst of a four-fold increase across the region, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.