“Schemers” will not be tolerated to receive hurricane assistance

by Linda Straker

• Carriacou and Petite Martinique and St Patrick are disaster zones in accordance with 2023 Disaster Management Act
• Act provides for fine of $40,000 or 3-year term of imprisonment, or both for intentional use of false or inflated data
• Government contemplating fiscal measures to assist with rebuilding and recovery

Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said that Government will not allow people who were not affected by the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl on 1 July to take advantage of any fiscal incentive offered to those who were or are impacted.

“I want to re-emphasise that the government will not tolerate persons who are not impacted by the hurricane, by gaming the system, by scheming or taking advantage of the fiscal incentives that the government will announce,” the Prime Minister said during a news conference on Tuesday, 9 July 2024.

“The government is already contemplating what fiscal measures that will be provided to assist with the rebuilding and recovery,” said the Prime Minister who is also the Minister for National Disaster and National Security.

The first major hurricane for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, Hurricane Beryl was a Category 4 storm that devastated the northern part of the island. The northern part of the island was the hardest hit, with Carriacou and Petite Martinique losing 98% of housing stock. In St Patrick and St Mark, several roofs blew off, and hundreds of trees fell, affecting the agriculture sector.

Government has since declared Carriacou and Petite Martinique and St Patrick as disaster zones in accordance with the 2023 Disaster Management Act which was approved in the Houses of Parliament in March 2023 and went into effect in October 2023.

Section 60 subsection (k) of the Disaster Management Act makes it an offence for anyone to “intentionally use false or inflated data in support of the request for funding, relief goods, equipment or other aid commodities for emergency assistance or livelihood projects.”

“Any person who commits an offence under this Act or the Regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine of $40,000 or to a term of imprisonment for 3 years, or to both,” said the legislation.