$100K cash grant: Citizens who miss current registration will still benefit – Jagdeo

The Government of Guyana has commenced registering Guyanese for the $100,000 cash grant in Regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine and Four. This process is being done by officers of the Ministry of Finance and some public agencies.

“They have substantially completed the registration exercise in Region Nine and already started distributing cheques there, they’ve substantially completed the registration exercise in Region One and Region Eight. The schedule for Region Seven will be announced shortly and the schedules for Region Four are all out at this time,” Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed during his weekly press conference on Thursday.

Nevertheless, he assured that persons who have been missed in the registration process will be captured at a later date.

“If you’re in Region One and Region Nine and was not able to register when the people were there, you will still be able to get your money…The remaining five percent (who were missed), we can at a later point in time, set up a mechanism for people to be registered and they too can get their cheques,” Jagdeo explained.

Asked about plans in place to deal with “shut-ins” or people who are ill and unable to visit the registration centres, Jagdeo said a system will be developed to ensure they are included.

“We will have to find a way, I guess once the bulk of the people have been registered, to go and visit people to do the ‘shut ins’ so we may have to have a programme where we’re notified where they are and just go at home and register them,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the Vice President is pleading with citizens to be patient with the process.

“You will receive the cash grant, it is just a matter of time so please be patient because it is a complex task involving the enumeration or the registration of several hundreds of thousands of Guyanese” he told reporters.

The Vice President further disclosed that the registration process and the issuance of cheques in the five regions identified will be completed in the next four to five weeks.

As it relates to overseas-based Guyanese, the Vice President emphasised that no registration desk will be set up in the United States or any other country to issue the cash grant there. “We made it clear that you have to register in Guyana and collect your cheque in Guyana…we will not be conducting registration abroad,” he said.

Further, Jagdeo is urging persons  to register, noting that the current database will be used for future cash grants.

Previously, Jagdeo had noted that the government would be able to issue the cash grant to some 300,000 persons this year, while the others will benefit next year.