The Ministry of Finance this week commenced the distribution of the $100,000 cash grant to public servants, including teachers.
However, some centres encountered some level of confusion, with persons complaining of having to wait for hours and in uncomfortable environments to collect their cheques.
In fact, in some cases, persons were turned away without receiving their cheques.
On Friday, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo explained that some persons who showed up to collect their cheques were not yet verified to do so. As such, he said better systems will be in place to avoid a recurrence.
“I saw the situation with some public servants and teachers and it should have never happened. We need to – in the Ministries, [find] better ways of communicating with people…We have spoken to the Ministry of Finance for a better way to manage,” he said during his weekly press conference.
He explained one scenario to be looked at, noting that “if you have teachers coming from different spaces, etc., and accumulating at a single spot, it leads to confusion at that spot, you could’ve done it in a more dispersed fashion.”
According to the Vice President, 366,473 persons have been registered countrywide while over 245,000 cheques have been printed and about 100,000 delivered.
He noted that 78% of the registered persons in Region One have received their grants, over 90% in Region Nine, 70% in Region Eight and 90% in the public sector. The process in Region Seven has recently commenced while pensioners will receive their cheques starting from Monday, December 30, 2024.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo assured registered persons who may be out of the jurisdiction at the time of distribution, that systems will be put in place for them to receive their money.
The Vice President noted that the first tranche of the distribution will be completed by February.
Following the passage of the 2025 National Budget, other people across the country will receive the one-off cash grant.
