The introduction of a system for instant child support payments under the Free National Movement has been a colossal failure.
The former government gave the contract to Kanoo, which was responsible for collecting travel visa fees. Dr Nigel Lewis, the FNM’s election campaign coordinator, is a major stakeholder in the company.
Kanoo was billed as a means of making and receiving child support payments easy, as there would no longer be a need to stand on long lines at the court complex.
But no one has signed up for the programme, which would allow people to make payments from their phones or kiosks, since it was rolled out three months ago.
That’s because prospective users realized that they would have to pay a fee to collect their money.
Mothers, who sometimes get as little as $100 monthly for child maintenance, decided that losing money in the name of convenience was not worth the price.