Dear Editor,
President Ali has announced a $200,000 per household cash grant, among other major economic benefits for our country. As the economic boom from our sovereign wealth takes shape, there will be many more of these financial benefits, benefits that would redound to the upliftment of all of Guyana. It will be progress and prosperity for our One Guyana.
Now, this marks a significant step in the right direction for our economy, it is economically sound management of the resources at our disposal, so let this country move on. Of course, this is mourning time for those who like to cry discrimination and the government is doing very little for the development of the ordinary man. Well, here’s the evidence, a cash grant amounting to approximately $1000 US for every household, a remarkable achievement for a Third World Country in these trying times.
Now, the naysayers not to be left undone, took the opportunity to make a fool of themselves, by mounting a picket. They have done this at a time when they should have been inside, listening to the president addressing some of those same concerns they were slavishly shouting outside. But this is the same old PNC Opposition with their same old nonsensical rantings. So, I would like us to focus on a few things that lie ahead, and these are:
1. The naysayers are going to try to sabotage the cash grant. From past experiences, they have conjured up in their minds that $200,000 should be in the pockets of “Every member of the household,” quite the opposite of what the government is proposing. Therefore, the government should ensure that this cunning device does not gain traction here again.
2. It is a cash grant to the responsible adult in the household to utilize the resources in ways that he/she sees morally and financially fit.
3. You would have noticed that I did not say the “Head of household” because there will be a mushrooming of persons claiming to be “Head of household,” which puts us back in the quagmire experienced in previous handouts. This is an area where the government got much censure, because, those lazy, not working men with multiple children and mothers will seize the opportunity to exploit. These men believe that they can cash in on each one of those households where they fathered children, while the dependent minors are left without sustenance.
4. I know of one such Casanova who has six children mother, who wanted him back in a relationship, told the handout agents that he was the head of her household. Therefore, he got a handout for each of the six households and soon after left on his usual Casanova adventures, when those children’s mothers realized that they did not achieve their objective of getting him back, they turned again and cried foul. Those mothers promptly paraded the children before the cameras to show that they were not recipients of a cash grant. In their minds (mainly single mothers) preyed on the emotions of the government, they should have been the beneficiaries and not the “Sugar Man.” In this regard, they expected the government to have issued another tranche for them, and I am saying if this problem is not addressed properly, then a more serious situation awaits us in the future.
5. We come to the situation where we have tenants and other such working adult people “in a household.” In previous circumstances when the government granted a subsidy to pensioners for water and electricity, the scammers cheated the system by having a range of households come under the pensioner’s name. They benefitted from the government’s largesse in not having to pay for electricity or water, gleefully boasting that they cheated the system, now, if that same principle is applied, then it would only be the pensioner who stands to benefit from the grant, so, they are not laughing now instead there is fear and concern are on their faces. Again, this anomaly would have to be addressed.
The point is this, there needs to be a skillful database featuring detailed information about persons such as their names and addresses and the places where they live, whether it be a big house or a hovel (what we call a caban). There must be a database to ensure that the person is a person inhabiting a social unit called a household so that he/she can get the cash grant.
This would eliminate the problem of persons cheating the system, the last two circumstances I’ve mentioned would be done away with, and con artists of the likes of Sugar would be cancelled out, in that certain names cannot keep popping up in multiple places, he cannot be “A household” name in multiple locations. We must get it right this time around.
But before I go let me send a message to The PNC Politician Coretta MacDonald, please note that teachers would be beneficiaries of the cash grant, it is just as the president had announced, development of all sectors moving along in a simultaneous manner.
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
