The government yesterday tabled a financial paper in Parliament to cater for a portion of the $100,000 cash grant that is to be paid to each adult Guyanese.
The grant was announced by President Irfaan Ali on October 16 and was a modification of an earlier proposal. Since then, there has been much public discourse on when the sum will be paid out.
A release from the Ministry of Finance said that under Financial Paper Number 4, approval is being sought for Supplementary Estimates (Current and Capital) totalling $84.1 billion for the period ending 2024-12-31.
“Foremost among the support required is the Assembly’s approval of $30.5 billion for the provision of resources for the commencement of the $100,000 cash grant initiative announced by His Excellency President Irfaan Ali in October. It would be recalled that this initiative will see every Guyanese aged 18 and older receiving $100,000 each, and when completed, will place $60 billion in the hands of citizens countrywide”, the release said.
The initial tranche sought would mean that another financial paper will have to be presented to parliament to cater for the remainder of payees.
In an interview on November 13, Ali said that the $100,000 cash grant will be paid to most persons here before Christmas with pensioners and public servants poised to get theirs by the end of this month.
In the hinterland, work has already begun with creating their datasets and theirs will be speedily paid, the President said.
“Before the end of the month, the existing datasets [for pensioners and public servants] their cheque will be cut easily because their dataset is already there. This weekend, they will be in Region 9 collecting the datasets from Region 9, working with all the toshaos …the hinterland regions we will try to complete as quickly as possible because the coast we can easily work with,” the President said when asked by Stabroek News during a new interview programme that was launched by the Office of the President.
“Yes… you would get your money before Christmas,” he added.
According to Ali, a key prerequisite is data collection and that is in the works. “So you had to get a system to collect the data, to cut the cheque , we already had raw datasets like all public service employees and then you have all pensioners. Tomorrow morning we can cut the cheque for all of them.”
The President said that training has been ongoing for persons who head into the hinterland to collect data from citizens there. And when the teams are done training and go out into the fields, they will be doing so with electronic devices with special data applications which they will bring back to the city to store and set the process for payment.
“The training has been ongoing for persons who go in the regions and collect the data. For example this weekend we will be in Region 9 to get all the information… the ID cards [etcetera]. When all of that is done, it goes into an app electronically. So they have their tablets, they go into the field…in two days [they can] register them and then all the cheques will be cut in the system and then you go back out with the first list [of payments]. So you are building accountability, transparency, involvement. Involvement and at national level, the regional level and you are effectively and effectively build the system out,” Ali explained.
He continued, “In Region 9 the app will be up and running and of course before the end of the month, the easy datasets like public servants and pensioners and all of that will be easily paid off”.
To be eligible for the grant, recipients will have to show proof of Guyanese citizenship by way of a national identification card or Guyana passport.
Yesterday’s press release from the Ministry of Finance said that another key area for which Government is seeking approval is for an amount of $25.3 billion under the Office of the Prime Minister to advance the Gas to Energy project.
Under the Ministry of Housing and Water, approval is being sought for $8.4 billion to continue the development of housing schemes and the coastal water supply programme.
Under Financial Paper Number 4, Government is also seeking approval for an amount of approximately $5.5 billion for the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority to support the advancement of D&I works throughout the country.
Under the Ministry of Health, Government is seeking Parliamentary approval for $4.5 billion in pursuit of advancing construction of the six regional hospitals in Lima, De Kinderen, Diamond, Enmore, Bath and No. 75 Village, as well as to initiate works on regional hospitals at Lethem, Moruca and Kato. Further, $3.6 billion is being sought to support the provision of drugs and medical supplies.
Under the Ministry of Education, approval is being sought for an amount of $1.2 billion to support the operations of the University of Guyana. The press release said that it would be recalled that in October, President Ali announced that starting January 2025, tuition fees will be completely abolished at the University of Guyana.
Under Financial Paper Number 3, approval for Supplementary Estimates (Current) is being sought in relation to advances made from the Contingency Fund, totalling $456.9 million for the period 2024-11-07 to 2024-11-22. The release said that these advances are primarily related to security services for the Ministry of Education and Regions 1 and 6.
