This call comes as the House of Assembly sort leave to lower the tax requirement for government-awarded contracts which are below ten thousand dollars ($10, 000.00). King applauded the decision as he says many small contractors are unable to meet their financial needs.

 “We have to start thinking about how we can indemnify these individuals. So that once you get a contract with the government, you can be indemnified under a particular arrangement.”, King asserted. He says the contract grantees are most times unable to care for their families. “Most of those persons are called upon to pay 10%. In one instance, a sickler who needed treatment, came to the Ministry seeking assistance in the form of a small contract. And so, he was given a contract for $15,00.00…”, the Infrastructure Minister recalled. “You give an individual a contract, and they don’t earn more than $1,600.00”, he explained.

 King says the overhead costs of fulfilling the contracts slim the money the contractors earn. “The pain of these little people who get a little contract, who have to pay that 10%”, he continued.

 The Infrastructure Minister also criticised the red tape associated with government service. He says public servants do not have the framework to aid contractors in need of immediate help. “The departments of government are insensitive to the social need, who wouldn’t understand anything except what’s written in the law.”

 King also urges small contractors to get their businesses registered, to benefit from other government policies.