The Government has put “a temporary hold on 11,800 of 13,000 food cards recipients” as of May 1.
Last September, the ministry also stopped the monthly $500 Baby Care Grant which was the brainchild of former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Confirmation came yesterday from Minister of Social Development and Family Services, Cherrie-Ann Crichlow-Cockburn, in response to comments made by former minister of the people and social development Christine Newallo-Hosein.
During a United National Congress meeting in Aranguez on Monday, Newallo-Hosein told party supporters the ministry had decommissioned hundreds of food cards given to vulnerable and poor families, while the Baby Care Grant was abruptly stopped.
Newallo-Hosein said scores of food card recipients came to her to complain that after picking up basic food items at supermarkets and taking it to the cashier, they unexpectedly discovered that their Targeted Conditional Cash Transfer Programme cards, also known as the food cards, had been deactivated by the ministry. The cards carry values of $410 to $700.
Many of the recipients, Newallo-Hosein said, faced “embarrassment” since they had to put back the groceries on the shelves and leave empty-handed.
Commenting on the food card issue, Crichlow-Cockburn said as of May 1, 11,800 food card recipients had their cards put on hold.
“But they would have already received their monies in April,” Crichlow-Cockburn said.
Monies were processed for the cards on the first of every month, she said.
During the months of March/April, Crichlow-Cockburn said the ministry’s 13,000 food card recipients who had not completed the enrolment process for the “biometric system”, were advised via the print and electronic media to do so.
“The public was advised that as an interim measure, persons who failed to enrol would have their cards placed on hold, causing a temporary disruption in access to their funds.
“If you recognise there is an interruption with the card you would come in. So if you do not come in, is either you no longer need the card or you probably believe there is some reason why you should not come in,” she added.
Of the 13,000 recipients, Crichlow-Cockburn said only 1,200 have responded so far.
“A temporary hold has therefore been placed on 11,800 accounts,” she disclosed.
“This hold will be ongoing until a decision is made. What I would recommend is that we give them three months to come in. Before we take them off the system we will put back advertisements in the newspapers to inform them. Once they are taken off the system they would have to re-apply to get back on,” she said.
Last August, Crichlow-Cockburn had indicated that the food card programme had led to millions of taxpayer dollars being lost and that 4,000 cardholders had been decommissioned as an audit of the programme was to take place.
“The full audit has not started as yet. Usually we do internal audits. We are hopeful that if it (audit) does not start this month, at least next month,” she said.
Crichlow-Cockburn admitted that there were a number of “irregularities” with the cards “that would have given cause for concern, hence the reason why we would have requested the audit.”
She said the cellphone numbers and addresses of many of the cardholders were wrong, while those who were contacted refused to come in for one reason or the other.
“That is a red flag. This is food to put on your table. It should be a priority.”
The monthly budget for the programme is $24 million.
“That money comes directly from the Ministry of Finance,” Crichlow-Cockburn said.
In a previous interview, Crichlow-Cockburn stated that 3,049 food cards were issued during September 2015 to March 2016.
She also confirmed that the Baby Care Grant, which was approved for one year by the then PP government, was stopped last September. She said up to April, 447 mothers had accessed the $3,000 monthly grant to the tune of $1,079,500.
“That was the previous administration’s policy. However, I have asked the ministry to do a review of the grant and to make recommendation in going forward. That is yet to be completed,” she said.
Last April, then Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley stated that the estimated budget for the Baby Care Grant had been inflated by almost $100 million. Rowley said the then PP government had overpriced the programme and was using it in its election campaign. The grant was given a budget allocation of $120 million in 2014.
With the grant targeting underprivileged babies, Rowley said it should focus on 15 per cent of the 20,000 annual birthrate.
Showing his calculation, Rowley said that should have equated to approximately 4,000 babies and with each recipient collecting an annual sum of $6,000, the cost of the programme should be $24 million.
Angry customers
Yesterday, Vernon Persad, former Supermarket Association of T&T president and an owner of food chain Persad Food Stores, confirmed yesterday many customers became angry when they could not access their food cards this month.
“Some became very upset to the extent that they became slightly aggressive because of the level of frustration they were experiencing. We had to let them know this had nothing to do with the supermarkets,” he said.