GEORGETOWN – Tensions over the long-anticipated Christmas cash grant have escalated sharply, as Leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Party, Azruddin Mohamed, blasted President Irfaan Ali for making what he described as a cruel joke at the expense of struggling citizens.
The controversy erupted after a recent oil and gas awards dinner at the Marriott Hotel, where President Ali humorously suggested that simply saying “cash grant” would send Guyanese into celebration. Laughter reportedly filled the room, which Mohamed described as being filled with “fancy people,” far removed from the everyday struggles outside the hotel walls.
Mohamed said the President’s remarks “hurt me to my core,” calling the joke a degrading dismissal of the hardship facing ordinary Guyanese. More than half the population, he noted, continues to live in poverty even as the country boasts booming oil wealth.
“You walked into poor communities hugging people while thinking less of them, and then go back to your fancy people and make fun of the poor,” Mohamed said, accusing the government of looking down on citizens who supported them at the polls.
He argued that it was not Guyanese who begged for a cash grant, but the PPP who promised one during its campaign and has since sidestepped the issue. He said the government “tricked” voters into believing that support would come before Christmas. Mohamed pointed out that several major oil-producing nations, including Norway, Alaska (USA), Kuwait, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, issue direct cash transfers to their citizens as a share of natural-resource wealth.
“Sharing resource wealth is a standard practice in the world’s strongest oil economies,” he argued. “Guyana should not pretend that its citizens are beggars for demanding what they were promised.” WIN has been pressing the administration for weeks to fulfill the pledge. And while public anticipation remains high, President Ali maintains that his government is focused on broader, long-term development.
Speaking last week after the swearing-in of Regional Chairs, Ali told reporters that the cash grant is only a small part of what his government intends to deliver. He listed healthcare improvements, homeownership support, cheaper business loans, better education access, expanded school feeding programmes, community upgrades and cancer treatment expansion as part of what he called a “very elaborate agenda” for national upliftment.
“Don’t narrow your thoughts to just a cash bonus,” the President cautioned. “There are many facets of what your government will deliver to you.” Despite those assurances, Mohamed insists that dignity matters now, especially during the most financially difficult time of the year. “All Guyanese deserve respect,” he said.
