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Region Six phase Govt. COVID-19 cash grant distribution launched
– some hiccups encountered
Kaieteur News – The Region Six phase of the Government of Guyana’s COVID-19 cash grant distribution commenced yesterday with a total of 20 teams working house to house to register recipients and issue the cash on the spot. Accompanying the teams were Regional Vice Chairman Zamal Hussain and the Regional Executive Officer Narendra Persaud. The registration and distribution exercise is expected to run for a period of two weeks targeting 53,111 households throughout Region Six.
An armed Guyana Police Force officer along with residents and cash grant recipients.
During the exercise yesterday, the houses were visited and the principal owners or head of the household was registered on the spot by having a team member filling out a form which requests the name of the recipients, their identification card number, their date of birth, address and other necessary information. Members of each household had to countersign the form. The cash was then handed over in a sealed envelope.
There were some hiccups with the distribution process as many persons took to social media and complained that they were told that if they are living in a rented home they were not qualified to receive the cash grant. One woman, Atidha Rahaman of Crabwood Creek stated that she worked and lived in Georgetown but after losing her job due to the pandemic she moved back to Berbice and is living with her sister in a home that owners gave them to look after. She expressed her displeasure in the way the team behaved and stated that they became annoyed when she began asking questions. Rahaman said it was after she was told by team that they could not receive the cash grant because they are living in a rented house that she began making queries. She opined that while the relief is welcomed she believes that there are people like her sister, who has four children and is a single parent, who are desperately in need of the money and is hopeful that it is just a misunderstanding of the process that could be rectified.
In contrast, Stanley Singh, another recipient told Kaieteur News that they visited his home and asked if he was the owner or was renting. He said he explained that the owner is living overseas and they subsequently requested his ID card and commenced filling out a form.
“I was asked to sign and I collected a receipt and an envelope. They smiled and left my yard. When I opened the envelope, there were five five-thousand-dollar bills inside”, he said.
Meanwhile, Vice Chairman Hussain explained that the principal owners of the homes received yesterday and for those persons living in homes that are rented or have been caretaking, their information was taken and a pink slip was or will be given. He said that during the second phase of disbursement of the funds those persons are expected to receive their cash grants.
According to the Vice Chairman the objective of accompanying the teams yesterday was to get a firsthand experience and assessment of the process. Over 500 households were targeted yesterday in the Crabwood Creek, Corriverton, Number 52/74, Number 51/Good Hope and Macedonia/Maida/Tarlogie communities. Hussain said that the Region Six administration is thankful that the President has “seen Region Six delivered in a timely manner because the situation in this region is in dire need for relief such as these”. A total of 71 teams will comb the villages with an armed rank of the Guyana Police Force accompanying each of them.
On the 7th September 2020 President Irfaan Ali announced that every household in Guyana will receive a $25,000 relief cash grant in light of the COVID-19 pandemic currently sweeping the world. Region Six officials will be disbursing over $1.3 billion per the next two weeks.
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