TIRANA, Feb. 26 – Last week’s debate between the government and opposition over the new automated social assistance program which cut off thousands has magnified this week to also include the level of poverty in the country and the negative outcomes the exclusion will have for poor families.
The opposition said the government’s new, automated evaluation system cut off around 20,000 families during the winter, leaving them with no protection and means to work, while the government said the exclusion of many families came as a result of abusing the system for years.
In addition, the opposition said that although the government “unrightfully” accused families of being lazy and abusive of the system, the poverty level in the country is increasing with the raise of taxes and a worsened business climate.
According to the opposition’s Democratic Party (DP) leader Lulzim Basha, the Rama government is not only failing to create new jobs, but is actually shutting down jobs by the day.
In this context, Basha called on citizens to protest against what he called a “governmental joke.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama, on the other hand, visited a low-income family this week to explain the abuse of the social assistance system which, according to him, began since the Democratic Party was in power in 2013, while adding that families which were unjustly cut-off will continue to receive assistance.
He stressed, however, it is important for people to seek for jobs, instead of trying to benefit solely from the government’s social funds.
“Through the new system, we are able to check each subject on taxes, mortgages, the transportation office to see whether they own automobiles…there is a small part which belongs to the error margin, as the system is computerized and it does have an error margin, and we are verifying that. Those who were cut off due to the system, and not their own abuse of the system, will be re-integrated,” Rama said.
He added the new social assistance scheme won’t keep providing partial assistance to families as it so far has.
The new social assistance scheme, local media reported, includes 15,000 families, out of which over 7,000 are first-time beneficiaries. Officials told local media the system was cleared from abusers, allowing families really in need to benefit more than the partial assistance of $10 to almost $90 and other compensations over electricity bills and children’s school books.
Concerning these statements, the opposition said they are propagandic speculations, as the government officials’ travels from one city to another alone equal the financial assistance denied to many families.
The DP added it is impossible for the system to have cut almost 20,000 abusers, and that the real abuse comes from the government’s corruption and inability to offer job positions.
