In a press statement released on Wednesday, Mrs. Griffin said the Minister of Housing, through his public utterances, has indicated his total lack of knowledge of the Urban Renewal Programme as implemented by the former administration.
Minister of Housing and National Insurance Kenneth Russell on Sunday re-launched the urban renewal project, which was dubbed by many as the "brainchild" of former prime minister Perry Christie.
On Sunday, Minster Russell along with other persons responsible for the project worshipped at Church of God Prophecy in Englerston to re-launch the programme.
"The lack of knowledge, coupled with the minister’s disdain for anything good done by the PLP, that has caused him to ostracize, victimize and shroud in uncertainty the livelihood and future of the staff in Urban Renewal who were employed as case aides in the community offices," Mrs. Griffin said.
She claimed that if the minister could get past "political partisanship" he would have at his disposal volumes of information on the work done through the Urban Renewal Programme.
"If Mr. Russell could get past the desire to destroy Urban Renewal as it was, because of his erroneous belief that everyone employed therein were PLP supporters, then he would have credible information available to him," she said.
The former minister said the information would reveal the number of derelict vehicles removed from the project areas, the number of abandoned houses that were demolished, the overgrown properties that were cleared down, the number of homes that were repaired, the community associations that were formed and the work that was done to foster the involvement of residents in the community and ensure the sustainability of the programme.
"The minister should know that any programme designed to change a mindset and attack the scourge of crime must address the social issues facing the communities. In fact, by its very nature the programme itself is a social programme, no matter what you call it," Mrs. Griffin said. "Removing [the Department of] Social Services does not change that.
She noted that the minister said once persons are sufficiently trained, they would then be deployed in other communities to assist the other Urban Renewal Centres in getting their projects off the ground.
"When you are talking about bringing a community together, Urban Renewal has always involved everyone in the community, the residents, the businesspersons, the schools, the churches – everyone was involved," Mrs. Griffin said.
"Clearly there is nothing new this ‘re-launched’ programme is going to do, other than providing the opportunity for Mr. Russell to say, as he is reported as saying, that the re-launched Urban Renewal project will be slightly different to what the Christie administration had launched."
According to Minster Russell on Sunday, Englerston is the pilot area for the entire programme. He said government officials chose the area because it is plagued with many problems.
"We chose Englerston to launch Urban Renewal because in our design of the new Urban Renewal thrust, we thought that we would pick an area that has a lot of the different types of problems that we see from day to day," he said.
"We decided that we would have our launch here in the centre of where we intend on working very strategically for the next few months to transform this area so that we could take what we learn here to all of the different districts in New Providence, Grand Bahama and the Family Islands."
Minster Russell said officials plan to go around Englerston on a street-by-street walk to determine how they can address certain problems in the area.
"We will be not just cleaning up, not just providing food for those who need food, but we will be seeking to develop the whole man to get him involved in what we are doing. I told my team that none of us will be successful until we can walk away from a particular community and that community will continue to work on its own."
When asked how this Urban Renewal Programme is different from that under the Christie administration, Minister Russell said the new programme is strategically planned because it does not involve "too many entities".
"This government needs to stop playing games with the Bahamian people and get on with the business of implementing real programmes and policies to deal with the hurt and pain they have inflicted on so many since coming to office," Mrs. Griffin said in her statement.
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