A total of 153,376 households have received a $25,000 cash grant from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Protection as part of the government’s COVID-19 relief effort while 16,365 secondary households have received a “pink slip” as a government promissory note of a second visit.
This was revealed just prior to the approval yesterday by the National Assembly of an additional $2.5 billion in funds to bolster the programme in Region Four. The programme is reportedly nearing completion in the nine other regions.
Minister Vindhya Persaud revealed to the House at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre that of this number, 8,124 of the recipients were from Region One, 13,675 from Region Two, 44,097 from Region Three, 20,857 from Region Five, 3,509 in Region Six, 752 in Region Seven, 364 in Region Eight, 7,503 in Region Nine and 13,996 in Region 10.
As Opposition Member Ganesh Mahipal lobbed questions at the Minister she took pains to explain the process used for the distribution stressing that while there be a final audit of the project there is also continuous auditing of the process.
She noted that there is a mechanism which utilises the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Each Regional Executive Officer (REO) is tasked with compiling a list of households and making a request for support from the central government.
Once the information submitted by the various REOs is verified the funds are transferred to the Region and the REO is tasked with the creation of a transparent accounting system for distribution.
The distribution team created then visits each home with regional representatives and community leaders as observers. Also present are officials from the Ministry of Finance and members of the Guyana Police Force. At these homes the head of the principal household is provided the grant while the team fills out an information form and receipt for signature.
Any other households within the home are asked to complete another form commonly referred to as a “pink slip”.
At the end of each distribution exercise the team is charged with submitting a report to the REO who compiles them into a larger report for submission to the Ministry of Local Government.
The COVID-19 grant funds which were approved under the Old Age Pension and Social Assistance Programme of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security were part of $8.9 billion current expenditure requested three days before the close of the fiscal year.
The monies were part of a $17.4b supplementary provision debated and approved unaltered by majority vote.
Other current expenses approved include a six billion dollar payment to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) as a provision for “partial clearance” of inherited stocks of arrears to GPL. The provision which was unquestioned is an addition to the $62.644 million which was previously budgeted for expenditure on electricity charges.
The Amerindian Development Fund received an additional $130 million for the procurement of tractors and trailers for hinterland communities. A sum of $800 million had already been budgeted for this programme.
Asked to explain which communities would be benefitting from the requested provision, Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai promised to lay over the information within a week.
A final $407 million was approved as a provision for the expanded work programme of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority.
Under Capital Expenses a total of $8.5 billion was similarly approved with the largest outlay $4 billion being approved under the Ministry of Agriculture as a capital contribution to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). This figure has been added to a $3 billion sum previously approved as a capital contribution to the sugar corporation.
According to Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha the sum is to be used for critical capital works made necessary after years of neglect from the APNU+AFC government.
“Some of the works earmarked to be done…the entire punt fleet at Albion needs to be upgraded, the entire roadway at Albion needs to be upgraded. All these things were neglected,” Mustapha told the House, explaining that the government intends to recapitalise and remechanize the industry.
Following a series of intense questions from shadow minister Khemraj Ramjattan, Mustapha said that $2.1 billion of the requested sum would be spent at Albion, $518 million at Blairmont, $60 million at Uitvlugt, $10 million at Skeldon, $746 million at Rose Hall, $533 million at Enmore and $60 million at the La Bonne Intention head office.
Further sums were approved for the Central Housing and Planning Authority which has received $2 billion for additional infrastructural works in new and existing areas.
The Guyana Defence Force has also received $1.765 billion as a final payment for a Bell 412 helicopter to increase the capacity of the GDF to conduct aerial operations while the Ministry of Public Works will receive $600 million as additional resources to facilitate payments with respect to the advancement of the roads programme.
