Prime Minister Dr. The Hon. Ralph Gonsalves during a call to the Issues at Hand program aired on Sundays on WEFM took the time to discuss the payment of farmers affected by eruptions of the La Soufriere volcano, detailing how the method of payments had to be adjusted due to the COVID-19 situation in SVG.
“Cabinet approved about 4,000 farmers, which Saboto brought the names; the list had to be approved in order for them to be paid. They should be paid sometime between the 22nd and the 25th of this month, before independence.
This is the payment, $500 a month, for the farmers, for September and October and then in December, just before Christmas, we will pay again for November and December, $1,000, we are paying two monthly payments”. Gonsalves said.
The Prime Minister said this format of payment had been employed due to the COVID-19 situation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“That’s how we’re doing it, to lessen the number at the time, for COVID; we pay with that in mind”. He said.
Prime Minister Gonsalves that COVID-19 was also a factor in why the road cleaning workers had been paid differently as well. He noted that farmers who faced issues with problems involving ID cards—which caused them to not receive payments for July and August—will receive payments for those missed payments, which results in a total payment of $2000 for those farmers.
