by Linda Straker
- EC$8,038,742.73 was disbursed to 506 individuals
- Highest allocation of 40.2% going to parish of St George
- Over 6,000 applications for a plan to allocate only 330
The Government said it is seeking legal advice to determine if it can release the names of the people who received grant funding from the Caribbean Development Bank’s supported Safety Nets for Vulnerable Populations Affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Project, implemented through the Covid-19 Economic Support Secretariat (CESS). The programme was launched under the New National Party (NNP) administration.
“Legal advice is being sought to determine if the release of beneficiary’s name and other private information is a breach of beneficiary’s confidentiality,” said Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall in his written response to the question asked by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Mitchell.
Cornwall, who became Finance Minister as of 1 April, disclosed that EC$8,038,742.73 was disbursed to 506 individuals, with the highest allocation of 40.2% going to the parish of St George. The programme officially ended in December 2022, and Cornwall said that Government has no continuation plans for the programme.
In a news conference on 24 January 2023, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, who was then the Finance Minister, said that as of September 2022, Government remodelled the programme to ensure that citizens who are interested in starting a business or extending a business receive grant funding through the CESS, up to EC$30,000. He then disclosed over 6,000 applications, but the plan was only to allocate 330. “It was heavily, heavily oversubscribed… the idea was to have distribution to 330 persons,” he said, pointing out that distribution was made to 481 people. “But we expect the number will go up because there are some people in the system who are still being processed,” he said. He explained that the focus of the grant was on the productive sectors. “Fishing received the largest allocation in percentage and that was 28%; agriculture received 20%, then agro process and the creative economy.”
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I for one is against the release of names as this is not beneficial to anyone at this time.
What I am concerned about is the way I’m which these grants are being processed.
Some of our ministers are not qualified to be in the position given and should not have taken such position just because it was offered.
As a minister you are expected to do your job for your country and the people who elected you .
I ask myself the same question time again about the ministers who represent St Patrick’s and what have they done or doing for this parish…we wait and see .
What is the purpose of government doing this, a very malicious move by this government. What does the government hope to achieve by publishing the names of these people. Are these people not Grenadians citizens, is government trying to say they should not have receive the money. We have more important things to get done in this country.