Former Chairman of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation Anil Juteram believes there should be safe and confidential support services for politicians, which will allow them to vent their realities and get the mediation required.
His comments come in the wake of the murder of Council Ramona Victor.
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.
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