Grenada will test its readiness to transition to a digital economy in July, when disbursements under its uniform and elderly assistance programmes, will transition to a digital format.
That announcement was made on Friday by Minister with responsibility for ICT, Needy Assistance and Uniform Allowance Honourable Pamela Moses during the sitting of the Lower House. She was speaking in support of the passage of the Virtual Assets Business Bill 2021, which was presented by Finance Minister Honourable Gregory Bowen.
The bill seeks to develop the legislative framework for the regulation of virtual assets and other financial technology initiatives and provide for the registration and supervision of virtual asset businesses in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
Minister Moses said from July, Government will commence the transition to a secure, cashless society in the digital era, with support from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) and the Grenada Authority for the Regulation of Financial Institutions (GARFIN). She said, “The whole objective is to create a safe and secure, cashless society and as such, having the legal framework for virtual asset businesses, will surely assist in making our digital journey a much smoother one.”
According to Minister Moses, over 5,000 beneficiaries of the Uniform Assistance Programme and over 150 elderly citizens will be shopping without cash.
Beneficiaries of Government’s social assistance programmes will receive the Quick Response (QR) code on their mobile devices, a process Minister Moses said is quick, simple and secure. “Most of the beneficiaries already have smartphones, therefore we would send the QR codes via these devices. The code will make available to each beneficiary, only the amount that they are entitled to. They will take this QR code to the stores that sell school uniforms, and these stores will have terminals which will be used to scan the QR code from the mobile phones. If a recipient does not have a mobile phone, the Ministry will print the code on a card which can then be presented to the store.”
The digital system is quite secure as each beneficiary will have a unique QR code that stores that biodata and picture ID.
GIS
Mikili Bain, it’s great that you seem to have found your happiness elsewhere but leaving GND isnt the only way to find happiness.
And indeed many who leave must realize that there are wonderful lifestyle things you lose living away.
I have to agree with Kesri.
Technology yes, but total reliance on technology is a bad thing.
There must always be actual physical money if folks want to have any freedom left.
Personally I use both. I always carry some cash for little things, gratuities, etc.
When I use my debit or credit card I know all my transactions can be tracked. I’m not up to anything illegal but i know that corporations will use that info to advertise to me and who knows what else.
Hiding in plain sight yet again…..the Objective is to Create a Cashless Society.
Remember these politicians words and deeds and do your best to stop these synchophantic operatives who work not for you but for a Global Elite.
As someone aptly put it… how is a cashless Grenada going to help the lady trying to sell a hand of Rock Fig in the market. Very well said.
Some people may think I am a conspiracy nutjob after all my CV19 talk, but this is just a further example of the usual Globalist Net Zero Carbon, Global Warming Hysteria Scam, and the World Economic Forum agends to Build Back Better, the New Normal, Globalist controlled world, being run by Greedy Evil Psychopathic Marxists and Capitalists. For them power is their drug.
I believe this trusting local politician heart is probably in the right place but she is unwittingly being used as a tool, like many others to put chains on their unsuspecting people. Did she just get up one morning and dreamt up this Cashless Society crap up?
As others pointed out here, a lot big and fancy talk when in the real world, you can’t even get decent Phone or Network Signal or it operates on the Molasses Network.
The current SarsCov2/Covid 19 money making and power scam and the endless Political Tyranny, is the way the Elites are continuing to condition ordinary people to swallow their Build Back Better Bullshit.
I am sure there are more than a few pothole in Grenada, maybe these polticians can start, by building back the roads better.
I left Grenada as a young graduate, left my boyfriend and came to a new land. It is these good news that makes me feel like Grenada has gone the same way 20 years ago when Dr. Keith placed computers in Secondary School. IBM computers gave me the opportunity to leave Grenada and I hope all those who are getting tablets will use it to lean to LEAVE Grenada.
Mikila, I am glad things turned out better for you and you were able to get better opportunities abroad. However not everyone need to leave and go live in some hellhole in Brooklyn or elsewhere, as many do in foreign.. in order to make it.
What Government need to do is get out of people lives with all the Bureaucracy and Red Tape and focus on the Infrastructure and Resources that enable local people to build a good life without the need to be yet more brain drain to build Europe and North America.
I know a number of local Grenadians who have never gone anywhere or the went and then came back and have built local business and a good life.
But then again ….a good life is a subjective thing….a balance of the Spiritual and the Material which vary in each individual.
I have nothing to add, but I noticed we seem to have a similar name. Are you also involved in the Computer Science field?
You have a similar name to mine. I hope that people are not confusing us lol.
Bunch of crap Grenada trying to act like a big shot with this garbage. You think the lady at the market gonna want your digital crap when you buy a hand of rock fig? Who are you kidding. This is just another way to make things difficult for the locals on Grenada. You can’t get a decent signal anywhere on the island half the time just for ordinary communication much less for money.
Jen….I couldn’t say it any better.
We use big words to day we are joining the digital age but we are so far behind that we will end up with the old equipment which means we will be playing catchup .
Embracing Digital medium exchange to enhance Operational efficiency and Productivity…