Two-tiered system to be used for transparency
His Excellency Dr Irfaan Ali said that he has requested the Auditor General’s Office to conduct an audit of the $25,000 per household cash grant to ensure the monies were properly disbursed.
This he said was to ascertain if any household did not receive the COVID-19 funds.
“This benefit is for every single qualifying household. In some regions where the households got and there was a tenant, for example, the pink form was filled.”
The President disclosed that he requested the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Services and the Auditor General to examine the concerns that have been raised on Social Media and by opposition personnel with regards to persons not receiving the cash grants.
He further explained that a two-tiered system has been implemented to ensure enhanced transparency; the Auditor General will go back house to house, to ensure that the houses match the payments that were made. After this, there will be another check of the pink slips to ensure that those are actual households.
“In that process, too, if there was any household that was missed, they can definitely contact the team,” he said.
The Head of State explained to the media that a number will also be published for members of the public to alert the relevant authorities if households were missed in the distribution process.
