VP Jagdeo promises investigation into likely flood-relief fraud

THE GOVERNMENT WILL INVESTIGATE HOW UNQUALIFIED PERSONS
ALLEGEDLY BENEFITED FROM THE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR financial package
targeting farmers whose livelihood was decimated by heavy, unexpected floods earlier this year.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo expressed outrage at a likely fraud in the flood relief grant
distribution when he met Berbice residents at the Rose Hall Estate Community Ground, Canje, in
East Berbice/Corentyne, (Region Six).
During Monday’s meeting in the ‘Ancient County’, Jagdeo outlined new mechanisms to aid the
distribution exercise to capture legitimate persons who suffered losses as a result of long, heavy,
persistent showers which inundated several parts of the country destroying crops.
According to VP Jagdeo, over the next month, the Agriculture Ministry will: verify names of
farmers claiming losses; include the names of farmers inadvertently left off the official list;
investigate how fraudsters were included as financial beneficiaries.
He asked those with relevant information to notify the agriculture ministry to aid the
investigation.
Jagdeo is livid that a few unscrupulous residents are trying to undermine the successful rollout of
a “carefully thought-out support programme” calculated at the tune of some $8B to help more
than 60,000 beneficiaries.
An indignant VP assured that government employees found participating in the fraud will be
terminated.
“We hired people to look out for our (the government’s) interest to verify it (the compilation of
names of proposed beneficiaries),” he declared.
The $8B package was designed for different categories of households and farmers hurt by this
year’s floods. There is a cash grant of $100,000 for homestead farmers; $50,000 for those with
kitchen gardens, and $50,000 to affected households. Some $3.5B was set aside for these.

According to Jagdeo, a former finance minister and President, there was also ceiling of $10M in
compensation for rice farmers who lost their crop which was ready to be harvested. They were to
receive $80,000 per acre.
Those with rice sowed were to receive $65,000 per acre and those with land prepared were to
receive $45,000 per acre according to the government’s calculations.
Additional to this financial support, some 60,000 bags of seed paddy were to be made available
for the farmers. The administration set aside $3.2B to fund this package of assistance.
Livestock farmers were to benefit from a $600M assistance, while subsistence, small, medium
and large-scale farmers were also targeted for government support.
Outside of the direct financial transfers to those hurt by the recent floods, the agriculture
ministry and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) planned using some
$500M for genetic improvements, drainage and irrigation (D&I) works, technical support,
and extension services to brace the agriculture sector.