|
|
Namibia: Big Payout Exercise a Success
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
New Era (Windhoek)
18 January 2008
Posted to the web 18 January 2008
Wezi Tjaronda
Windhoek
The Basic Income Grant Coalition says it is satisfied with the turnout of residents who collected their first grants.
About 70 residents of Otjivero village are yet to collect their grants, which were paid out on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Out of 950 that were registered, 371 were collectors of grants who could have been parents or guardians that collected on behalf of those under 21, while 300 were registered as individuals. Initially, the coalition registered 1005 people, a number that came down to about 950.
The 70 will have to be registered and verified next month when the second grant will be paid out.
Reverend Dirk Haarmann of the BIG Coalition secre-tariat told New Era that some people were still out on holiday, others were out to work while others could have been in hospitals, sick.
He said the coalition was happy with the turnout, considering that only 70 missed the first payment.
Meanwhile, parents and guardians turned out in their large numbers to pay fees at the Otjivero Primary School, which Principal Rebecca Jeremiah said was the first time this has happened.
"They have shown great interest in paying for the fees this time. The number that turned up has even more than doubled the number of parents we usually get," she said from the school yesterday.
Jeremiah said the rural school, which only asks N$50 from each child will not have problems anymore in buying toner and paper for their photocopier.
"This is just what they needed to boost them," she added.
New Era is informed that some of the recipients of the N$100 grant were seen with bags of maize meal, which they said was made possible by the grant.
Jeremiah, who is also the Deputy Director of the BIG Project Committee at Otjivero, said some boarded the train to buy their household needs at Gobabis.
With alcohol abuse rife within the community, some fear that many will use the money on alcohol.
But Committee Director, Steven Eigowab, said the committee has been holding meetings with community members to advise them on how to use the money.
"We think they will adhere to the advice we gave them. We have told them that liquor is there but this money is not meant for luxuries," he said, adding that he suspected only a small percentage of the community would misuse the grant.
The committee will hold another meeting with the community tomorrow (Saturday) to evaluate the grant.
Eigowab said the committee has put up measures to ensure that the money is put to good use but could not divulge the measures.
Haarmann told New Era that the former police station commander saw some people drinking and heard others warning them that the community risked losing the project if this type of behaviour continued.
|
"It is interesting to know that people know all that received the grants and they know that there are control measures," he added.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
