From Monday, some 13,330 Food Card (Targeted Conditional Cash Transfer Programme) recipients will be removed from the system following an audit and update of the system.
The deactivation of the cards will save the Government $100 million annually, Minister of the People and Family Services, Cherrie-Ann Crichlow-Cockburn, said yesterday in an exclusive interview with the T&T Guardian.
On March 15, Crichlow-Cockburn, through her ministry, had appealed to some 14,960 food card recipients to go into the ministry to ensure their information was updated. The cardholders were initially given three months to do so but due to a slow response the deadline was extended to July 15.
“And as of July 15, only 1,630 recipients came in to have their card activated. It means that we are going to deactivate 13,330 people from the system from August 1. You can draw your own conclusions,” Crichlow-Cockburn said during an interview at her Port-of-Spain office.
Crichlow-Cockburn said Government would now save $100 million from the process which could now be utilised “purposely” in her ministry.
Earlier this year, the ministry had also removed approximately 4,000 from the programme, which saved the Government $25 million annually. Thereafter, on May 1, the Government put a temporary hold on 11,800 of 13,000 food card recipients.
Of the ministry’s 27,000 food card recipients, Crichlow-Cockburn said 24,000 were paid via a debit card system, while 3,158 cardholders were on a biometric system.
The minister said the 27,000 cardholders did not include the 13,000 recipients whose cards were put on a temporary hold two months ago.
Crichlow-Cockburn said ample warning was given to the cardholders via the print, electronic media, phone calls, home visits and on the ministry’s website to update their status. Those whose cards would be deactivated in the coming days, she said, could re-apply and would be re-assessed for qualification.
Had her ministry not removed the 4,000 cardholders from the system, Crichlow-Cockburn said every year $25 million would have gone down the drain. The cards carry values of $410 to $700.
“Having carried this exercise further, we realised over 15,000-plus cardholders were not registered and were asked to come in.
“Failure to come in resulted in a temporary hold on your card. These 14,960 recipients are supposed to be dependent on this card for their monthly food supply... you would expect an influx or a mad rush. Instead, the majority did not comply,” she added.
Crichlow-Cockburn said that was the most glaring and disturbing issue for her as minister. She insisted the decision to remove the cards from the system was not to suppress, deny or frustrate anyone, but would ensure that any holder of a card was deserving of it.
In addressing the issue, Crichlow-Cockburn said the food card was one area the ministry first looked at when she took office last September. Under the last administration, she said it was decided to issue 50 cards a month to each Member of Parliament for distribution to their constituents.
“The ministry was asked to do an assessment to ensure the recipients had qualified for the cards. I am not sure to what extent that was done,” Crichlow-Cockburn said.
She admitted there was a lot of leakage and wastages in the system and Government wanted to ensure it got to those who needed it. Asked if Government may go after the illegitimate cardholders to repay the State, she said she had not been privy to such discussions.
From September 2015 to March, the ministry has issued 3,049 food cards, she noted.
Public raised ‘rich’ users to ministry
Crichlow-Cockburn said the update of the database in the last six months showed some cardholders could not be located, had died or emigrated.
“Some cardholders passed their cards to their family and friends. The funds that were placed on the cards every month was being utilised at the supermarkets.
“So it begs the question who was really using these cards? This certainly was not above board. Of course, this raised some red flags. This was disturbing because I believe there may have been other deserving people who could have benefitted from these cards,” she said.
Crichlow-Cockburn said she was first made aware that some of the cards were in the wrong hands by a relative.
“My niece came home to complain that a customer who had a trolley filled with groceries was ahead of her in the line at a supermarket. Not only that, draped over a shoulder was an expensive Gucci bag. She was also properly dressed... so you could tell it was people with money.
“And when it was time to pay for the items, she pulled out multiple food cards. This caused a bit of an uproar in the line. People started questioning how she got the food cards. We had many situations like that,” she said.
The contents of an internal audit in March unearthed that there was a flaw in the food card system, in that the ministry was supposed to undertake a review of each cardholder twice yearly.
“That would have determined if your living conditions had improved or you are still in need of the card,” she said.
Crichlow-Cockburn said to her surprise the reviews were not carried out on “a substantial number of the cardholders” for several years.
In going forward, she said it was recommended in the audit that reviews be implemented and adhered to.