Jagdeo slams opposition for claiming credit for 100k cash grant initiative

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has chided the opposition for attempting to take credit for the government’s initiative of a one-off cash grant of 100k for all Guyanese 18 and over.

This measure will inject billions of dollars into the pockets of Guyanese, fulfilling yet another commitment outlined in the PPP/C’s 2020 manifesto.

However, several opposition forces have asserted that the measure comes as a direct result of a recommendation posed by former Minister of Finance Winston Jordon.

Dr Jagdeo dismissed this claim by the opposition camp. He asserted that the government implemented this improved measure to ensure greater transparency and ease in the process. 

He pointed out the opposition’s historical position that such an initiative would “never work” under their administration.

A 2018 interview has recently resurfaced in light of the announcement, during which the then Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan says that an initiative that allows for cash transfers for every citizen “would never fly”.

“Today they are claiming credit for it. Their track record is that in spite of all this [talk] now claiming that they want cash transfers and want billions to go to people, the Minister of Finance said it would never fly. So, we established what their position was,” Dr Jagdeo said during a press engagement at Freedom House on Thursday.

He clarified that the government arrived at this solution following a series of concerns expressed by Guyanese families.

Persons expressed apprehension about several elements of the verification process, including the definition of what would constitute a household and the government’s plan to utilise the databases from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and other utility companies.

“We were bombarded with calls. People from families were calling us to say ‘If you give one person in the family, we will never benefit from anything’. By Friday afternoon, everyone wanted to set up a fake tenancy agreement…we would’ve ended up with maybe 600,000 households. Then, we saw people started going into GPL. They want new meters and all kinds of things,” the GS said.

He continued, “We told Finance on Friday to start re-looking at the issue. No doubt somebody told [Jordon] on Friday that we were reconsidering it. So, Sunday he suggested the 100,000, as though it’s his original idea. The same man who said it will never fly. He claims credit for it. APNU says ‘It’s our great idea’.”

This new measure intends to minimise these potential conflicts and administrative challenges and streamline the verification process, to ensure that all Guyanese families benefit.  

The general secretary continued, “It may mean more money, but it is an infinitely fairer system. We listened to people. We looked at the method…but it would have been a total nightmare if we tried to determine households.”