SEVERAL residents of Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, were yesterday wringing their hands in despair at the news that some $4M entrusted into the hands of elders of a church in the village as penny bank savings, had ‘gone with the wind’. A woman who was said to be responsible for withdrawing the money from a city commercial bank and paying various sums over to the members of the penny bank, yesterday, claimed that she was robbed somewhere on Camp Street in  Georgetown. The money was said to have been deposited and subsequently uplifted from an account at Republic Bank. However, villagers are still not clear on how the robbery was executed and who might have been the robbers. Late yesterday, the woman, a member of the church, was being sought out by the police, but remained elusive.
According to irate villagers, they began saving with the penny bank at the beginning of this year, with the understanding that they would be drawing monies for Christmas. Some people were expecting to draw $200,000, others $150,00, and others still as little as $25,000.
With the year drawing to a close, subscribers began visiting stores and deciding what to buy, while others plan investing in their children’s education.       

A few days ago ‘Sister’ announced that monies would be paid out yesterday, but when members arrived at the church the sister was not there.
Sometime later the church’s minister arrived and told them that the Sister had been robbed of the $4M after she uplifted it from the bank on Tuesday.
Shrewd investigations made by villagers revealed that the woman only reported the robbery to the police yesterday morning. She has not been seen by villagers since.
Villagers swear that they will not be taking the matter lightly, and are demanding their money back.  
“We don’t want to hear anything but ‘money loss’. We want our hard earned cash. This nonsense got to stop,” they insisted.
Meanwhile, as the news went around, it appeared that half of Mahaica had turned up at the police station yesterday afternoon, and were demanding to know what would be the next move.
Police are investigating.