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Mixed views on grant

Dec 11, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

Government has started giving out the $100K grant. There were/are hiccups and complaints as expected. There are also mixed views on who should get the grant. Many Guyanese at home are of the view the diaspora should not be entitled for the grant since they left the homeland and have become citizens of other countries. The number of Guyanese in the diaspora who may travel home to receive the grant would be small given the cumbersome conditions. Most Guyanese in the diaspora are doing quite well and won’t need the grant to uplift their lives.

On the surface, it appears that distributing the $100K grant is simple and can be done quickly. But there are several complications on eligibility and verification of the recipients. Government has to be wary of potential fraud as happened during the $25K Covid relief and the flood grants. Thousands of non-eligible people received both grants while deserving eligible individuals were denied or not given the grant. They are still waiting. They should file a class action suit for payment retroactively with interests.

Any Guyanese, including those in the diaspora, at 18 or above is eligible for the $100K. One has to prove citizenship and age. All potential recipients or claimants should be in a data base to prevent fraud —receiving multiple grants.

Registration for the grant, not for election purposes, is one way to meet criteria. It may not be possible, for varied reasons, for some people to go to an office to register. Government must have staff visiting homes or some other means to verify identity of recipients. This largely reduces, if not altogether eliminates, fraud.

How can individuals be prevented from making claims for the dead or those out of residence? The same question would apply to non-Guyanese. Staff would have to verify the identity and whether the person is alive. Only those interested in the grant should receive it. The wealthy may not be interested in lining up to register and to collect the grant. Would those who died or travel after the announcement of the grant or after registration be eligible?

How would the diaspora get the grant? They have to be present physically in Guyana and register like everyone else. In engagement with the diaspora in recent travels, on the phone, and social media, many plan to go to Guyana to receive the grant of about US$465. It is not a lot of money but it is good spending fund to have a fun time or use it to help others in need. Many of those settled in Trinidad, Grenada, and other Caribbean territories, in USA, Canada, and in Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil plan to make a trip to the homeland and collect the fund. For them, it is an opportunity to visit the homeland they have not seen for years.

They plan to spend it through a variety of ways including giving some to families, friends, and the less fortunate. Conversations and other engagements with Guyanese in England in a current trip and on social media hardly found anyone who will undertake the trip to collect the $465. Most Guyanese Britons are of the view that those in the diaspora over a lengthy period and have acquired foreign citizenship should not be eligible. Many in Guyana and in USA and Canada are also of the same view. But the government’s position is once you can prove you are a Guyanese national, you are eligible and entitled for the grant.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram

(Mixed views on grant)

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