I AM not a supporter of cash grants as a policy. I appreciate periodic cash donations by the state, but they should not be frequent. My position is to limit it to once a year and maybe on special occasions like Independence or Emancipation or Arrival Day.

I will never support the state offering cash grants frequently to citizens. It is a flawed system, both in terms of class inequalities and its contribution to national development. First, class equalities. I believe that there are thousands of people so financially strong that they do not need cash grants from the state. By juxtaposition, there is a substantial number of working-class folks who should be given the amount that goes to the middle class, who collect it anyway. For these working-class folks, that money is a lifeline.

In terms of class analysis, I would suggest that instead of national cash grants, the state should use those billions of dollars to set up a powerful test agency staffed with highly trained statisticians, computer experts and financial experts and pay them well. Those people should research the class composition of Guyana using levels of employment and household structures.

The findings will reveal the class structure of the country and whose needs are greater than others. I have a deep, philosophical objection to a citizen who buys a steak for $72,000 and collects a cash grant the same amount of which is given to a public servant or nurse who has to travel from the West Coast every day to work in central Georgetown or the single mother who lives in a low-income area and sends three kids to school.

If I ever find myself supporting cash grants, it will be permanently for people who need the money, like single mothers, people with low-paying jobs and those who earn a living using animal-drawn carts. This country is developing rapidly with conspicuous elevation of certain classes, but there is still a working-class stratum that needs the cash grant more than the citizens who are financially endowed. The more I think of the general cash grants, the more I find it an insult to the labouring masses who need the money.

Frequent cash grant disbursement is antithetical to national development. Frequent state donation to the general population amounts to dozens of billions of dollars annually. Guyana, despite its petro dollars, is still a developing country. Put that money into macro-economic schemes that increase Guyana’s developmental trajectories.

First, instead of cash grants, put the money into a massive extension of the Ministry of Housing so that there are dozens of specialists engaged in the distribution of house lots. I have been physically burdened for a long time knowing that Guyana, one of the most uninhabited countries on Planet Earth, has a reasonable amount of people who do not own their own home. The space to give citizens land in this country is immeasurable. The average person  should, in the next 20 years, have their own home. Use the cash grant money to create the bureaucracy to make this a reality.

Secondly, use cash grant money to expand the schools that cater for early school leavers. There should be dozens more of those industrial training schools like the two there are on Woolford Avenue. Why give the youths at these industrial schools $100,000 quarterly when that money could go into training them that will equip them with a skill for the rest of their lives?

Thirdly, use the intended cash grants to subsidise our small farmers. Despite the World Trade Organization (WTO) mandating the abolition of subsidies and ushering in globalisation, it was a huge deception. The EU, since the birth of the WTO, have been subsidising European farmers while the IMF dictates to the Global South countries that they can’t give state subsidies and have state enterprises.

Two years ago, I read that a small farmer had a successful grape farm. I think it has gone out of existence. That is sad because Guyana is spending billions of American dollars to import grapes, apples, strawberries and a vast array of other fruits and vegetables. Small farmers should be assisted in canning Guyana’s fruits.

Finally, take the money intended for cash grants and start a free transportation scheme for public sector workers who endure the burden of facing daily hassles of transportation. The state should provide free transportation for its workers from home to office. The more I think of how unworkable frequent cash donation is, the sooner I wish it would be stopped. The Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, is dead right – cash handouts can create poverty.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.