Dear Editor,
The highly anticipated $200,000 cash grant per household was announced, and soon there will be disbursement of same.
Now, before we get into the disbursement part of it, we first have to define what a household means. A household is defined as a family or group of people living together; it is a social unit under one roof, comprising all the people living in your house, including servants and others who live in your house.
Now, that explanation was not helpful, especially when it comes to the disbursement of money. Persons become edgy when money is to be given out, and the question is asked: In whose hands should that money go? Should it go into the hands of the husband, or the wife, or to all the adult members of that household?
Now, these are some of the questions persons are tempted to ask. Mark you well, every adult wants to get a grab of the dough, that is why some ask: Why didn’t Government grant every adult that cash grant? Or, greater still, why didn’t Government give the cash to every child, who should be the real beneficiaries of a cash grant? they need it more than any other.
However, it still comes back to the point: Who actually handles the cash when the disbursement is made? Who should be “the coordinator” of the cash grant?
Then there are those who make up a number in a household; that is, several adults who, in the local vernacular, “cook their own pot”. These are persons who cook for themselves, but who also share expenses in the house, such as the rent (if they are renters), food costs, utility payments, among other things. Should these be given a separate individual grant?
In my book, for those who “cook their own pot”, if they find themselves in a household, I say continue in the same vein as is customary: “share the proceeds equitably.”
Government cannot get into those squabbles; that is a matter for those who live in a household. It is a cash grant to one of the members of that household, and not to every individual in the household. These are some of the miscellaneous factors that have to be ironed out before the cash is disbursed to a household.
What I do know is that there would always be those who would grumble and complain. They would hit the media to tell their sad story that they were sidelined, and it is all the Government’s fault. This cuts across party, race and religion; all are involved.
I love to stick to the Biblical account of Jesus when He was here on earth. That Divine Man did not fulfill all the needs of the world; He did try His best to address the needs of the people, but His best was not good enough for His followers, they wanted more. To think of it, they finally killed Him. Those very same people killed Him, yes, one week after He fed them with loaves and fishes. I rest my case!
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
