Councillors in St. Elizabeth Receive Tablets

Staff of the Poor Relief Department and Councillors in St. Elizabeth were presented with 18 computer tablets by Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, on April 26.

The presentations were made during a special council meeting of the St. Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, in Black River.

In addition, the Poor Relief Department received new computers and a printer to complement the mobile devices.

The donation forms part of the commitment made by Mr. McKenzie to improve the working conditions of the poor relief departments and councillors in the country.

“The purpose of the tablets, especially for the councillors, is to assist them in their work. The poor relief officers, I made a commitment to them in 2016 in Portland, that if we are going to lift the standard of the poor relief departments, which we are doing, then it means that we must put them in a position to do the work and do it in an effective way,” said Mr. McKenzie.

“Many of the poor relief officers throughout the country, operate out of big books and some exercise books with limited resources to do the work, and we took a conscious decision to give them the tools to do the work,” he added.

The Minister said there is a growing number of people who depend on the poor relief departments for assistance and in order to keep up with this demand, “we have to improve the quality of the service by giving them the tools to undertake the work.”

“So, we are not only giving the councillors tablets, we are giving each poor relief [department] tablets, and also to give them computers and printers that will be placed in their departments to help them with the work they are doing,” he outlined.