From today and until Friday, January 3rd 2025 pensioners will begin collecting their $100,000 cash grant cheques at National Insurance Scheme (NIS) locations, the government announced yesterday.
“The government will commence the distribution of the $100,000 cash grant from Monday December 30th to NIS pensioners who registered for the cash grant at NIS offices throughout the country. The cash grant will be distributed at the offices listed below and continue until Friday January 3rd 2025,” a release from the government last evening stated. No hours for collection were indicated.
And if they are unable to collect their cheques during the week, government assured that mechanisms will be put in place for them to collect it in their respective villages at a later time.
Pensioners were reminded to take along the same Identification that they registered for the grant, in order to uplift their cheques.
Sites listed were for Regions 2, 3,4,5,6 and 10. In regions 1, 7 and 8, pensioners would have already or are currently collecting their monies.
Below is the table for the respective regions along with the office and address where the cheques can be uplifted.
Before going to the NIS offices, pensioners are encouraged to check the status of their cash grant using the following link https://cg.gov.gy/track . To use, the pensioners have to input their ID card number.
Last Friday, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that pensioners were expected to begin receiving their $100,000 cash grant today, acknowledging defects in the distribution system and promising improvements.
Teachers and public servants in Region Four started receiving their grants last week. However, many complained about long lines and waiting times. Last Monday and Tuesday at St. Stanislaus College on Brickdam, Georgetown, and teachers turned up with umbrellas in the rain as they waited to collect their cheques following an announcement made by Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, just the night before.
Jagdeo acknowledged the issue, saying, “I saw the situation with some public servants and teachers, and it should’ve never happened.” He added that the complaints were fair and that the distribution system needs to improve.
The Vice President explained that the Ministry of Finance is working on a better system. One idea is to involve managers at different agencies to make the process more organised. He noted that unlike the coast, the distribution process in the hinterland has been smoother as teams went directly into communities and hubs, making it easier for people to collect their cheques.
According to Jagdeo, the distribution will continue into early 2025, and once the 2025 National Budget is passed, funds will be allocated to print and distribute cheques for those in the remaining regions. Registration for these regions will also take place during this time.
“We’ll use January and February to get this done,” Jagdeo said as he assured that the government is committed to ensuring everyone gets their grant.
“So we will have between the beginning of the year to about February when hopefully the budget will be passed to deliver these cheques to people… and then in that very same period, we will be able to register people in the other five regions”, he said.
