Severe doubts regarding David Granger’s recent promise

Dear Editor,
At his rally at Damon’s Square, Anna Regina, our President promised the residents of Region 2 cash grants for families with school children (see the article titled “We’ll put oil money in your homes,” Guyana Chronicle, January 30, 2020). This public announcement by the President represents an open admission that cash grants have merits, which is most welcomed. However, it took five years and election pressures for the President to understand that cash grants can provide enormous benefits to low-income families. More importantly, this public pronouncement by the President will not change the fact that by replacing the $10,000 per child cash grant with the 3 Bs initiative, his Government denied families with school children approximately $1.67 billion annually or $8.35 billion over five years he was President.
It is instructive to note that a $10,000 cash grant was given to families with children when the PPP/C was in Government. Unlike the APNU/AFC, the PPP/C never waited for oil or the elections season to merely promise citizens a cash grant. The PPP/C Government provided families with cash grants long before the discovery of oil. In opposition, PPP/C continuously struggled with the APNU/AFC Government for almost five years to restore the $10,000 cash grant, but to no avail.
The promise of the cash grant by the President, therefore, is not only late but does not appear to be genuine. It is also coming from a President who failed to fulfil his promises and never displayed any real interest in the poor. His Government has also failed to successfully craft and implement any pro-poor initiative while dismantling those which existed like the $10,000 cash grant and water and electricity subsidies to pensioners that approximated G$500 annually (or $2.5 billion over five years). Further, his Government has reduced the disposal income of low-income families by imposing Value-Added Tax (VAT) on essential items and services, including water, electricity, and the internet.
Editor, I respect our President. However, I have severe doubts regarding his recent promise. Had our President, at least, retained the pro-poor policies started under the PPP/C Government, I would have believed his recent promise of cash grants for families with children.

Regards,
Name provided