The Tribune

• THE FIGURES IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH OF THIS STORY WERE INCORRECT IN THE PRINT AND ORIGINAL ONLINE VERSIONS OF THIS STORY - THEY HAVE NOW BEEN CORRECTED.

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

More than 4,400 Bahamians are receiving assistance from the Ministry of Social Services via its pre-paid card, with $12.8 million allocated in the 2015-2016 Budget for food assistance.

The Government introduced the pre-paid Visa card in conjunction with Bank of the Bahamas (BOB) to replace the food coupon system, a reform designed to eliminate fraud in the distribution of food aid to poor Bahamians.

Melanie Griffin, minister of social services, told the House of Assembly during her Budget presentation: “There are four community based outreach centres in New Providence, from which members of the public who need assistance caring for themselves and their families are provided services.

“The card was introduced first in November 2014 for 624 beneficiaries at the Wulff Road Centre, which has the smallest clientele. This allowed us to test our processes and develop the necessary database for the gathering of information, especially as we had to adhere to the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for banking purposes.

“The Fox Hill Centre was the second for the introduction of the card, and this was done on January 26, 2015, when 535 beneficiaries received their cards, and an additional 357 beneficiaries were added by the end of March 2015,” Mrs Griffin added.

“The card was introduced thereafter for 1,079 beneficiaries at the Robinson Road Centre in March 2015, followed by 590 by the end of May 2015. Also in May 2015, the first 1,051 beneficiaries of the fourth and largest centre in New Providence, located on Horseshoe Drive received their cards in May.”

Mrs Griffin said: “As of the end of May 2015, therefore, 4,463 beneficiaries of the food assistance programme in New Providence are receiving their benefit by way of the prepaid card. We anticipate an additional 400 persons from the Horseshoe Drive Centre will be added at the end of June, and thereafter any new applicants approved for assistance.”

She further explained that pre-paid card beneficiaries had to be located by a home visit, with a needs assessment conducted to verify if they still needed food assistance.

“This was an onerous task as many households had not been assessed for years. Social workers were pulled from other areas to assist, and agreed to work after hours and on weekends - even on some public holidays - to complete the exercise” Mrs Griffin said.

“They found some very depressing and distressing circumstances, yet in other instances they came across persons who were receiving assistance but whose circumstances did not warrant it.

“In some instances, the address given was found to be a vacant lot, and there were times when they discovered that persons were not living at the address that was on file.”

Mrs Griffin said some persons were not approved for continued assistance, but the majority were given a short period to prepare themselves for the termination of assistance. These persons continued to receive the assistance via the paper coupons.

Mrs Griffin said the Department of Social Services had allocated $12.8 million for food assistance in the 2014-2015 fiscal year. It received supplemental funding worth $2.5 million in April 2015, and $3.4 million last week, taking its total food budget to $18.7 million throughout The Bahamas.

“While the 2015-2016 allocation remains the same, we anticipate that we will be able to recover savings from the impact of the implementation of the reloadable Visa prepaid card and the inherent reassessments,” the Minister added.

“Already we have experienced what appears to be a one-third reduction across the board at all centres.”

She added: “While the prepaid card has reduced the food list for permanent and temporary food assistance, the monster on our backs is what is known as the EFA – emergency food assistance – where hundreds flood the centres at the end of each month.

“Every effort is being made to assess these persons to determine their eligibility for food assistance. They will then be placed on either the permanent food list or the temporary list, or terminated from the list with, of course, the right of appeal.

Mrs Griffin said that between July 2014 and May 2015, 907 persons received rent assistance that totalled $999,060.

Some 1,164 persons received electricity assistance, worth $644,349, while 231 persons received assistance with water and sewerage bills totalling $101,171. Around 128 were assisted with temporary shelter, worth $92,954.