Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill has clarified that the standard national approach will apply to small business grants under the Sustainable Livelihoods and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) programme.
In a statement yesterday, Edghill said that he was responding to misinformation circulated in Linden by a candidate for the governing PPP/C.
He said that over the past two days, the issue of the management and administration of the next round of small business grants announced for Region 10 by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, was publicly misrepresented by one of the Local Government Election proportional representation candidates for the PPP/C in Linden, “on account of her gross misunderstanding of the matter”. He did not identify the public misrepresentation.
“The Minister wishes to clarify that the standard national approach for the administration of the small business grants, also known as SLED, will apply to this and all other tranches.
“That standard approach includes identifying small businesses across the region that are in need of financial stimulation, followed by an assessment and verification of each case to determine eligibility for which a grant will create the needed boost”, he said.
This entire process will be administered by a team of central government officers, as is customary across all regions, Edghill added.
In the case of the pending disbursement in Linden and other parts of Region 10, this approach will be strictly followed, he stated.
