00:00On Monday, the father of Councillor Ramona Victor revealed her tumultuous relationship with her common-law husband, which has led to what is believed to be a murder-suicide.
00:10She died of blunt force trauma while her partner by ingesting poison.
00:15Former chairman of the Sangu Grande Regional Corporation, Anil Juteram, says,
00:19Oftentimes, politicians are focused on their electoral responsibilities and treating with the needs of people that their own needs inclusive of mental are neglected.
00:30In public life, there are many things that goes unnoticed, and you don't really pick up certain things that is happening internally with members of the political fraternity,
00:46and that is on both sides I'm speaking about, the both sides, the opposition and the government.
00:51But what mechanisms are in place to treat with that and other issues that may arise within the political workspace,
00:57whether through the political party or regional corporations that require confidentiality and or mediation.
01:06TV6 News understands that there is an allocation for mental health services.
01:10However, the funds are only disbursed from the Ministry of Finance if requested.
01:14This in itself can take time.
01:16In the case of one corporation we spoke to, that annual allocation is $10,000.
01:21However, an artificial intelligence overview suggests that the average cost for an individual counselling session in the country ranges from $300 to $800.
01:32As he sends condolences to the family of Councillor Victor, Juteram expresses a belief that more has to be done on these fronts.
01:40There should be certain genuine concepts taking place where you can put together a task force, if I may use that word,
01:51because the need has arised in terms of getting these sort of arms in the organisation.
01:58According to Juteram, that task force would be able to present factual information to political heads of the parties without bias
02:07when legitimate complaints pertaining to the workplace are brought to their attention.
02:12So that they would be able to deal with the issue that is affecting him or her.
02:18And it will be dealt with if the people are not trained within the organisation to mediate.
02:26And let's say in some cases, the people who are designated, they themselves might need some form of training, most respectively.
02:33So I think that they should have people who are qualified and can be able to, in a confidential manner, hear what is happening to these people.
02:46Juteram is calling on political institutions to take these things into consideration moving forward.
02:51The need to bring that to the table so that their members, who may be councillors, aldermen, chairmen, senators, members of parliament,
03:02can be able to come and vent what is happening.
03:06And not only from a political standpoint, but may I say from a business orientation point of view also.
03:13He's hoping that it will mitigate situations such as the tragedy that has befallen Councillor Victor.
03:19Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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