Dear Editor,
I have a few questions regarding the government’s impending cash grant distribution of $100,000 to all Guyanese eighteen years and older and it is hoped that clarity can be given on the highlighted issues as some of these have implications for a wide cross section of Guyanese society.
1. In the President’s address to the nation on October 16, he announced that every adult citizen of Guyana 18 years and over as of 1st January, 2024 would be eligible for the cash grant. This now begs the question as to how the President came up with the qualifying age of 1st January 2024. Now bear in mind there would be a significant number of Guyanese who would have turned 18 after January 1, 2024. Take for example someone born January 2, 2024. That unfortunate person would miss the eligibility date by one day despite now being 18 years! What about the many single moms, single dads, the poor and the needy who would all have turned 18 after January 1, 2024? The better option would have been for the grant to be made available to all Guyanese who will be 18 years old by December 31, 2024. It is not too late for the government to have a rethink of the eligibility criteria.
2. In order to collect the grant, each person must have a form of Identification, mainly a Guyanese Identification Card or a Guyanese passport. Fair enough! What happens to those Guyanese who do not have the above mentioned document/s? It is public knowledge that many persons especially in rural and hinterland areas do not have birth certificates through no fault of theirs, but because of large-scale incompetence at the level of the General Register’s Office (GRO). Without a birth certificate it is therefore difficult for those especially in remote areas to apply for a Guyanese ID Card, as the Guyanese birth certificate is used as the primary source document for registration. What mechanism does the government have in place to deal with persons without Identification documents?
3. Many people especially those in remote and hinterland communities have left Guyana’s shores for countries such as Brazil in search of employment. Most of these people come and go between their permanent homes in Guyana and their temporary places of work in Brazil. Will these persons be eligible for the grant? Now using the legal argument that no Guyanese can be removed from the Voters List regardless if that person now resides abroad, wouldn’t that same argument now apply to Guyanese living overseas but desirous of collecting the grant?
4. There is some debate on how the lists of eligible persons to receive the grant will be produced. For indigenous communities, it is in the public domain that Toshoas and Village Councils will be tasked with preparing the lists for their respective villages. From past experience, the COVID cash grant as well as the distribution of solar systems to indigenous communities were littered with complaints that the distribution process was tainted politically at the village level by political operatives in some of the villages. In addition, different villages sometimes applied their own eligibility criteria which differed from that of the government and resulted in some deserving people not benefiting from the previous grants. What policy does the government have in place to ensure that the eligibility criteria is strictly and uniformly applied across the country? And what will be the mechanisms in place to resolve queries, disputes etc.?
5. The final question is what methodology will be in place to avoid duplications; instances where one person may collect a grant more than once. Take for example a person living on the coast but working in the hinterland. That person may appear on the distribution list for the hinterland community where he/she is working and also on the list where he/she is living. What is to stop that person from collecting twice; once at his place of residence and then also at the place where he is residing while working.
This cash distribution grant, while a welcome initiative, may not fully meet its stated objectives if the distribution process is not properly thought out and implemented.
Sincerely,
(Name and Address Withheld)
