Gov’t targeting vulnerable persons, farmers, business owners for relief
CEO of the NCTF Secretariat, Joseph Harmon, being briefed by Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig during the site visit to the National Gymnasium.
CEO of the NCTF Secretariat, Joseph Harmon, being briefed by Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig during the site visit to the National Gymnasium.

…to implement multi-faceted approach

CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) Secretariat, Joseph Harmon, said the government is taking a multi-faceted approach to provide relief to citizens in the wake of emergency measures put in place to suppress the spread of the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.

A number of industries and sectors have grind to a halt as a result of the COVID-19 Emergency Measures, which include closure of nonessential businesses, a 18:00 hours to 06:00 hours curfew and physical and social distancing. Reports indicate that workers in various sectors such as the tourism, hospitality, telecommunication, aviation, and manufacturing sectors have either been laid off or forced to take pay cuts or unpaid leave.
Harmon, on Saturday, said government is cognisant of the financing challenges faced by the people of Guyana, and is working to implement a menu of measures, which will target the vulnerable sections of society, farmers, business owners and students.

At the time, he was touring the National Gymnasium, which has been transformed into a storage facility for the stockpiling of materials for the Civil Defence Commission (CDC).
The CEO of the NCTF Secretariat explained that the David Granger Administration has classified the measures into short term and long-term actions. In the short term, he noted that those persons who are affected and deemed vulnerable will be looked after, while in the medium term, the government is looking to reboot some small businesses so that they can continue their production and manufacturing activities.

CEO of the NCTF Secretariat, Joseph Harmon, in discussion with representatives of the task force and other government officials

“So, the efforts in the first phase will be to deal with those immediate issues. We have worked over the last week in trying to determine that category of vulnerable persons. We have gotten to the point now where we are fairly comfortable with that and it is not the traditional areas of vulnerabilities. There are persons who might not have been vulnerable before COVID-19, but because of the measures that we have introduced, it has caused them to be at home; they cannot work or feed their families so we have to consider that as a vulnerability,” he explained.

The CEO of the NCTF Secretariat further added: “We are doing several things at the same time. We are looking at the traditional vulnerabilities, age, disability, et cetera, but then we are looking at persons who have been affected in terms of their businesses.”

In the first instance, Harmon said the Ministry of Business will shortly commence the coordination of small businesses to determine how best the government can lend assistance to ensure they thrive and recover during and after this period.

“That is the coordination of a small business plan. We are also looking at a plan from the Ministry of Agriculture, which is called REAP [Regional Emergency Agricultural Project]. That has to do with re-energising small-scale agriculture and bringing people back to basics so they understand that after COVID-19, there is going to be a food crisis and we have to prepare our people from now. So, during this phase, we will be looking at how best we can help small farmers in so far as giving them seeds, equipment and agricultural extension services so that they can go back to the land. While we are assisting with hampers, we want to wean people off of that,” he said.

Further to that, the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Telecommunications and other agencies, is working to ensure that public schools’ students can continue their education while the schools remain closed. Harmon noted that the government is cognisant of the fact that not every student has access to Internet and is therefore working on practicable solutions.

“Then, as you know, some people are working from home and they are still being paid so the Ministry of Public Service is looking to see how best we can optimise that to ensure the government is still efficiently managed,” he said.

The CEO also made it clear that contrary to some reports, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo remains the Chairman of the NCTF and the secretariat must report to him. “All we are doing in this secretariat is being done under the general and specific guidance of the Prime Minister who is the Chairman of the Task Force. We report to him and then he reports to the Council of Ministers. We are going to do whatever is in the best interest of the people of Guyana to make sure they are safe and prepared for during this virus and after. This is about strengthening and operationalising the Task Force,” Harmon said.
Since Guyana reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 11, 2020, the Public Health Ministry and the NCTF have been leading the fight against the deadly Coronavirus, while putting in place measures to cushion the impact caused by the disease.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.