Dear Editor,
Please allow me to offer my gratitude for giving prominence to my letter on the chaotic first day of the distribution of the Cash Grant in Lethem.
Since that letter was published, no less than fifteen residents, pensioners among them, have contacted me with the same story – they have not received the grant even though they would have done what was required of them – getting registered.
I am anticipating that with the widening of the distribution exercise many more residents country-wide will find themselves in the same predicament. This is totally normal since no system is fool-proof, no system is ideal. There will always be flaws.
It’s against this backdrop that I am appalled that the VP Jagdeo would have taken to his weekly Press Conference to berate my efforts, not only of highlighting that fact, but also offered a possible solution to the problem.
Therefore please allow me to state some irrefutable facts;
There was confusion on day one. No one can deny that. Mr. Clairmont Lye also acknowledged that in a letter to the Press;
None of the staff present was equipped with answers to the many queries that were made on that day;
Some persons, including me, had registered using our passports. No cheques came for such persons. Not one.
During the registration exercise, persons operating the Biometrics device did not always “lock in” the information after completing the process. This invariably led to some persons not being recorded as being registered.
One would have thought that the VP Jagdeo would have been sensible enough to recognise the failings in the system and seek to correct them since this is not the end of the exercise. No, rather, he ranted and raved as though he alone has all the answers to Guyana’s problems and anyone who dares offers an opinion is out of place.
Please allow me to inform the VP Jagdeo, that when it comes to national issues, all Guyanese have the right to have a say. If others are willing to forfeit that right, not Carl Parker. I will be in his bonnet day in and day out; if that is the way he wants it.
The VP Jagdeo should be embarrassed to offer us a measly $100k after nearly five years of pumping oil. While some residents are grateful for the “small piece” it is not a life-changing sum that will make us better off.
Anyways, I have been reliably informed that there will be reconciliation; and that persons who missed out this week, will get their cheques before December 31st.
I guess we will have to wait and see
Yours truly,
Carl Parker
Pensioner
