— voucher must be cashed by Nov. 30, says Minister Persaud

BY the end of today, the distribution of the $25,000 one-off cash grant vouchers and pension books will be completed in Regions Five and Six, except for a few remote locations which will be wrapped up over the weekend.

According to a release, as far as Georgetown is concerned, 75 per cent of the distribution has been completed, and an extra week will be provided at the end of this month for those who missed the distribution exercise last week.

As for residents on the East Coast and East Bank Demerara who missed collection, they are being urged to visit the regular distribution sites in their respective areas.

Subject Minister, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, has visited many of the distribution sites in Regions Four, Five and Six so far, and is gearing up to visit Regions Two and 10 next week, and then Region Three the following week.

She reminded that while the 2022 pension book will be available throughout the year, the voucher is time bound, as it has to be cashed by November 30.

Providing an update on the exercise, Minister Persaud said: “There have been hiccups in a few locations, but we have quickly dealt with those. No system is perfect but every time we find an issue, we try to fix it so that by the next day, we don’t have that happening. We are trying our best to facilitate the shut-in patients as early as possible, so once the general distribution is completed, those shut-in persons will be dealt with. We are also doing the direct delivery system. That has commenced already and will continue in all of the regions.”

She added: “What makes it all worthwhile is to see persons leaving with happy smiles and pensioners extremely delighted to receive their 2022 booklets this early. It is a wonderful initiative and I think what makes us want to do these things is that we understand that people are struggling and the support is needed.”

The ministry has also been doing complementary programmes like hamper distributions and similar support initiatives. In fact, last Tuesday, Dr. Persaud and team distributed approximately 500 hampers to villages across Region Five, especially as many residents have been affected by heavy rains and flooding recently.

Residents were happy for the support and interest shown by the ministry, some of which have been visited and helped in this way for the first time. One resident of Trafalgar, West Coast Berbice, Joylyn Nicholson, was extremely pleased on Tuesday when the ministry showed up with hampers for dozens of persons in her community.

“I’m particularly pleased and heartened to see we weren’t left behind. I am so heartened because many felt that it’s only the supporters of the government would receive assistance but the President has proven his words that he is a President for all Guyana,” Nicholson expressed.

She also said that she was pleased with the pension and voucher process in the region and lauded Minister Persaud for her work among women, elderly and children. She was proud that she was a woman in government who cares about all people and ensured that they benefit in so many ways.

Another resident of Burma, Dolly Satram, suffered heavy losses recently with flooding but continues to be grateful and appreciative for whatever efforts are being made to help the farmers at this time.

“I appreciate every little thing that the government is doing,” Satram expressed.