‘Maximum verification’ before fisherfolk receive $150k cash grant – Mustapha

As fisherfolk await a promised one-off $150,000 cash grant, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha on Thursday said he wants a transparent list that reflects the “real beneficiaries.”

Referring to it as “maximum verification”, the Minister said the process is currently ongoing and should be completed by next week.

There are approximately 5,000 registered fishermen in Guyana.

“What I want to avoid, I don’t want to see what happened with the flood relief,” the Minister told reporters at the sidelines of an event at the Ministry’s Regent Street office in Georgetown.

There have been reports of false beneficiaries when cash grants distributed previously by the government.

“I want us to have maximum verification, I want a list that is very transparent, a list that is reflective of our fisherfolk, the number of fisherfolk in our country, the real beneficiary,” Mustapha said.

According to the Minister, a number of names were added to the lists that was circulated around the country. And now, those lists are being verified by officers and various stakeholders in the regions.

“We have sent back the lists to various [Neighbourhood Democratic Councils] across the country where there is a notice in the daily newspapers, where persons can check their names, make objections or add names and this will happen for the next week.

“Hopefully, by then we can have a verified list and we will pay the cash grant to the fisherfolk,” Mustapha related.

Minister Mustapha made the announcement of the cash grant early in June during outreaches with fisherfolk on the East Coast of Demerara. He had said then that there has been an increase in prices for supplies and that the industry was affected by low catches for several months.