Prime Minister Mark Phillips on Saturday assured that each household that was missed during the first phase of the COVID-19 relief cash distribution remains eligible for the grant and will receive it during the ongoing second phase.
A Department of Public Information (DPI) report said Phillips gave the assurance to residents of Paradise, on the East Coast of Demerara, while encouraging residents to utilise the vaccination facility established in the community.
In response to a resident who said that her household received neither the grant nor the ‘pink slip’ (given to secondary households or persons renting) during the initial distribution, the Prime Minister encouraged her to reach out to the team once they have returned to the community. He reassured the residents that the government has promised and is committed to ensuring that each household receive the $25,000 COVID-19 relief cash grant.
“Pink slip or not, the team is coming back into every community. We have started in the interior regions already and we are going to work our way to the coast, the money is there… we said every household, it will happen, they will get back to you”.
The government began distribution of the $25,000 cash grant in late September last year and completed a first phase.
Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon on Friday maintained that the relief programme is being rolled out in a discriminatory manner as he noted that some data shows households in Regions Four and Ten have yet to receive the grant or ‘pink slip’. He also cited cases in Region One.
During his weekly virtual press conference, Harmon said the APNU has compiled a list of some 1,710 households that would have received pink slips and others that received nothing as they were reportedly ignored by the distribution teams.
