Fearful that the local banks may be unable to process 300,000 cheques in a single month to the tune of $30 Billion, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) is calling on Government to engage the commercial banks to not only extend their working hours, but to also consider other methods of disbursing the $100,000 cash grant.
The Commercial Banks are still to be consulted by the Government on the cash grant payments that are to be issued through cheques. However, some banks have already been exploring ways to address the issue.
Hours after the National Assembly approved $30.5B to facilitate the disbursement of the one-off $100,000 cash grant, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said the Government intends to issue cheques to 300,000 eligible Guyanese in December, once they have been registered.
But Economic Advisor to the Leader of the Opposition, Elson Lowe at a press conference today, said the banks in Guyana cannot “realistically” process 300,000 cheques in the month of December alone while offering other services during regular working hours.
“If the government intends to leverage the banking system to deliver cash grants by cheque it needs to arrange for overtime hours and compensate banking employees accordingly. We believe that it is clear that the government needs to explore a wider range of options for persons, one, to register; two, collect their cheques; and three, to cash their cheques,” Lowe said.
Lowe said it is clear that the Irfaan Ali Administration does not have a clear plan in place for the registration and distribution of the cash grant.
According to the Vice President, public servants and pensioners would be first in line to receive the grant, but the PNCR believes that the Government should also prioritize low-income regions, neighborhoods and citizens.
“If desperately poor families are kept waiting until the middle of next year it will cause needless suffering. The Covid-19 cash grant is still fresh in the minds of Guyanese because not only did large numbers not receive their due, many of the lowest income neighborhoods were addressed late and last,” Lowe said.
He said the cost-of-living relief initiative is no doubt urgently needed and must be given to those who are desperately in need of the grant.
Lowe said should the PNCR form the next government, it will have better systems in place to deal with cash grants.
“We will engage international consulting companies that have existing expertise in establishing and managing these systems and thus this chaos, delay and frustration will be avoided. Without such robust, flexible and secure systems Guyanese will be victims of discrimination, corruption and administrative incompetence. It is our belief that tangible measures to streamline service delivery, in this case cash grants, must be implemented in order to enable the effective function of government. Guyanese deserve nothing less,” he said.
The Government has said that it has begun the process of registering Guyanese, in particular public servants and residents of Region Nine, for the cash grant. Once registration is completed, the information would be processed and verified before the grant is issued.
It said once the $30.5B is exhausted, it will include additional sums in the 2025 Budget to facilitate payments to the remaining Guyanese who are eligible for the grant.
It is estimated that at the end of the distribution of the exercise, some $60B in grants would be issued.
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