The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

SUSAN Larson, head of the National Food Assistance Task Force, has denied claims in social media that the group has distributed expired food vouchers, but said officials have had to “tighten up” protocols due to people trying to sell or stockpile the items.

She said in a statement yesterday: “From the outset, members of the task force and countless volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide humanitarian aid in the form of food assistance to tens of thousands of Bahamians. Teams work 50 and 60-hour weeks carrying out our mandate in an open and transparent manner. To suggest such an under-handed practice is in play is not just false, it is a gross disservice to them.

“In the first months of our work, our vouchers had no expiration date. Unfortunately, we found that people were stockpiling the vouchers and, in some instances, even trying to sell them. It is difficult to understand how someone presenting themselves as truly vulnerable and needing help could do either. If you need food assistance, you need it now, not in a month or two. And if you need food assistance, why would you (sell) your voucher, a voucher you received at no charge, to someone else?”

Voucher misuse forced the task force to “tighten up voucher preparation, distribution, and follow up, adding unnecessary expense and time to the programme,” the statement said.

“Paper and electronic vouchers are issued to a named beneficiary. Expiration dates give recipients two weeks to cash in their voucher for food. With the tightened protocols, the voucher programme has been running smoothly.”

Noting the task force has spent more than $38 million on food assistance with help from non-governmental organisations and the government, Mrs Larson added: “It is, I guess, a sad fact of life that these days you cannot count on goodwill being ever present. We have carried out this unprecedented national emergency programme in an apolitical manner. Our only agenda is to fulfil our mandate and help people in need. We have never distributed expired vouchers. To suggest that is unconscionable.”