MINISTER of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, Shahine Robinson, has urged Members of Parliament to use the limited resources available to them creatively and wisely for better results.

“We need to demonstrate our maturity as a country, to be able to recognise that there is a national interest with which we must treat, sometimes even at the expense of our own self-interest,” she told new MPs attending a seminar on the Social and Economic Support Programme (SESP) at Jamaica House, Tuesday.

She said that organisations and individuals selected as beneficiaries under the SESP, should fall within certain specified criteria.

High on the list, she said, was the economic viability of projects, the training component, and the ability to empower persons to become more independent thereby lessening their dependence on public support.

The SESP provides MPs with an opportunity to directly influence projects in their constituencies. However, while critics have suggested that it is open to political abuse, MPs have insisted that without its support they would be unable to address many of the basic needs of their constituents.