Government will revamp heavily-criticised SLED programme

The government will revamp the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development
(SLED) programme to ensure it fulfils its initial purpose of lifting the masses out of poverty
giving them control of their lives.
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who made the disclosure, said the SLED shakeup will be deep
and broad and not a cash-cow for party parliamentarians as was the case with the opposition
coalition when a number of current serving politicians also benefited handsomely by securing
large sums when the A Partnership for Nation Unity Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) during
its five years in office.
This, Jagdeo asserted, defeated the original purpose of SLED.
“We are looking at that aggressively. I see some of the guys who have been criticising us a lot
like (MP) Christopher Jones (who) got a huge chunk (from the fund) .Then (MP Jermaine)
Figueira he got a huge chunk, then (MP) Vincent Henry he got a huge chunk too. (They) were
criticizing us over $5- $6M he (Henry) got more that the entire Amerindian Village,” Jagdeo
said.
The public has heaped scorn on the SLED initiative, and the six-month Irfaan Ali administration
is anxious to distance itself from the fiscal malfeasance associated with the initiative under the
APNU+AFC government.
Records reveal that some $233M were distributed to individuals and groups with several of the
initiatives in various stages of incompleteness while others are abandoned. According to Jagdeo,
under the reformed SLED, the process will be made more user-friendly with reduced financial
backing. He explained the decision is to broaden the reach of programme so that macro-projects
can seek mega-funding from established financial institutions.
“We have been looking at small grants…and simplifying the process so there is some money that
has been put there recently and I think that people will get like a $250,000.00 small grant. I think
that is where we want to evolve because if you are going up to five or six million you should get

some help maybe to guarantee some loan or something like that (from) the banking system,” he
said.
The former Finance Minister and President said grant monies must be spent in the communities
as SLED is geared at enhancing, improving and developing communities in which beneficiaries
live.
“You want to spend more of the monies in these communities…not to give a few politicians. It
was a payoff either for them or the campaign and that’s why it tells you a lot about the people
who are the most aggressive in the social media space,” he reasoned.
SLED was conceptualised as a part of the broad range of menu of measures to spur holistic
national development, and the government will ensure that the renewed programme reaches the
very needy and enterprising and that it’s properly executed and accounted for, Jagdeo assured.