Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has acknowledged that poor planning has led to challenges in the distribution of the $100,000 cash grant initiative and stressed the need for government officers to handle the process with greater efficiency.
Jagdeo made those statements at his press conference on Thursday. Addressing the system’s shortcomings he said, “Now there is bad in many cases, bad planning on the ground to distribute the cheque, and it has led to some difficulties among people, and that’s something that we need to work on improving. The government and a lot of the officers who are doing this need to do this with a bit more heart.”
The $100,000 cash grant was announced for citizens aged 18-years and older. The government has announced that before the end of 2024, public servants and pensioners will be the first to receive their grants.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) recently reported that so far, 412,000 Guyanese have been registered for the cash grant. The registration is currently being rolled out in Regions Two, Three Five, Six and 10. In the meantime, 302,000 cheques have already been printed, with over 90,000 distributed. The aim was to distribute about 300,000 cheques by the end of 2024.
Moreover, at the press conference, Jagdeo was asked about the integrity of the cash grant initiative and the security of personal data collected during the process.
The Vice President dismissed claims that the data could be misused, labeling such fears as baseless conspiracy theories invoked by the political opposition. “So, what data do we collect from a person for the cash grant, it’s the person’s name, ID, picture and address,” he said.
The Vice President added, “I don’t want to feed into this conspiracy that APNU had started, and because they are doing a disservice to a number of people who may support APNU but are afraid that somehow the government may misuse their data.”
Further, Jagdeo noted that the same political opposition leaders who criticize the initiative have themselves registered to receive cash grants. “Most of them have already registered to collect the money,” he pointed out.
He further compared the data collected for the cash grant to the information contained in the preliminary voters’ list, which is made available to political parties. “That has over 700,000 names, people address, and all their particulars and available to political parties. What are we collecting here that is any different,” he noted.
To reassure citizens, Jagdeo highlighted the government’s commitment to safeguarding personal information. Nevertheless, he said that the finance ministry shall not and will not release that data to anyone.
