— say one-off cash grant provides much needed brace

WITH plans to purchase medication and much needed essentials, old-age pensioners are commending the government for the one-off $28,000 cash grant initiative which, government said, will put $1.8 billion of income directly into the hands of old-age pensioners.

Shelia Lespuer, an 88-year-old resident of Victoria Village, noted that the money will come in handy, especially during the current economic climate.
“Everything is a lot more expensive; so a little more money in people’s pocket, especially big people like me, is appreciated,” she told the Guyana Chronicle in an interview.

The woman who lives with her youngest daughter noted that while she is blessed to have someone who takes care of her basic needs, there are many old folks who don’t have the same luxury.
In this regard she said, “there are a lot of people who aren’t blessed like me and this money will really help them”. She called for continued support like this.

Meanwhile, 85-year-old Loul Thomas noted that she will be using the extra cash to purchase much-needed medication.
The woman who has a blood circulation condition, said she is currently on several medications which prevents her from having blood clots.

Most recently, she complained of muscle pain, expressing a need for acupuncture treatment. “I got this pain in my leg and I want to try acupuncture, so I’ll use the money for that,” Thomas said.
On Thursday, in a video message broadcast on his official Facebook page, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali said old-age pensioners will receive a one-off grant of $28,000 from the government by the end of 2022.

President Ali said that since his government was elected in 2020, emphasis was placed on ensuring that the lives of all Guyanese are improved, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable groups in society.
“Among these,” the President said, “we have focused on our senior citizens, recognising that they have served our country and the society within which they live for decades.”

The $28,000 grant will be the second one-off grant that pensioners will receive. Old-age pensioners had received a one-off grant of $25,000 in 2021 which placed an additional $1.6 billion of disposable income in the hands of that section of the population.

The grants are among a number of measures that the government has been implementing since 2020 to improve the lives of pensioners across the country.
Prime among those measures is the increase in the old-age pension from $20,500 in 2020 to $28,000 in 2022, reflecting a 36 per cent increase which has placed a total of approximately $22 billion more in the hands of old-age pensioners annually.

Aside from direct cash transfers, other measures that senior citizens have benefitted from since 2020 include the reintroduction of water subsidy for old-age pensioners. Over 27,000 pensioners benefitted. This resulted in old-age pensioners having $200 million annually of disposable income.

The government has also made it easier for pensioners to access their monthly pension through alternative payment methods such as direct bank payments, as well as direct payment to shut-in pensioners including persons living with disabilities and persons who do not have access to a post office.

Other interventions by the government include the restoration of the children’s cash grant that was stopped by the former APNU+AFC Government, and increased the sum from $10,000 to $25,000. This grant has since been extended to learners in private school, and there is a promise to further increase it to $50,000 by 2025.

The children’s school uniform vouchers have also been increased from $2,500 to $5,000; old age pension has been increased by 40 per cent; some 20,000 scholarships have been made available to Guyanese, and this number could increase to 50,000; the end-of-year bonus for the Joint Services has been restored; VAT has been removed from water, electricity, machinery, agricultural inputs, among others; unjust D&I charges have been resolved and concessions have been granted to miners to make their operations more profitable; corporate tax on healthcare and education has been removed; more than 11,000 house lots have been distributed thus far and the government is now helping persons with private lands, who do not have the capital, to build their homes.

Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had also said that education at the University of Guyana will be made free before 2025; 1,000 homes will be built in Linden and electricity cost is expected to be reduced by 50 per cent by 2025, with the coming on stream of the Wales gas-to-shore project and other major energy projects.