- Rose Place Fisherfolk Still Not Paid Income Support
- Harry Refutes Caesar’s ‘Dishonest’ Claim
Winsbert Harry, the President of the St Vincent National Fisher-folk Association, asserts that he acted with integrity and did not mislead anyone when he declared on December 24 that he and fellow fisher-folk from Rose Place had not received any income support. Harry is responding to Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar, who recently characterized his statement as ‘dishonest.’
Harry expressed to the St. Vincent Times his astonishment, along with that of his fellow fishermen, regarding the absence of their names from the list designated for income support, despite having met the qualifications and provided substantiating evidence of the impact of Hurricane Beryl on their livelihoods.
Harry articulated that, although their vessels remained unscathed, the income support was also designated for fishermen who were confined and unable to fish subsequent to the passage of Beryl, for which they were deemed eligible.
As of Monday, 6 January, Harry indicated that he had yet to receive any form of income support.
“I was not dishonest about what I had mentioned within the article because I went through the whole procedure at Victoria Park. I went there again on Monday, 30th December. They informed me that my name appeared on a master list. I checked the master list at Victoria Park. My name was not on the list. Additionally, the list did not include the names of other fishermen from Rose Place, whom I represent.
“We had to leave our names by one of the tents in Victoria Park. Was that dishonest?”. In our presence, workers from RainForest who showed up and whose names were on the list for income support received, was that dishonest. Never did I say in my statement that fisherfolks or fishers didn’t receive any income support; I did say I estimate about 200 to 300 received income support”.
”The boats I mentioned in the St. Vincent Times article of December 24 belong to fishermen with vessels that were not able to go fishing, and while I was there, there were fishermen who had to journey to Barrouallie to look for their names because it was not on the list at Victoria Park. So I cannot see how I made a dishonest statement when I went through the whole procedure. The question is why were our names not on the list when we were eligible for the income support,” Harry said.
Another fisherman, Ahsha Edwards from Green Hill, shared with St Vincent Times that as of Monday, 6 January, he had not yet received any income support.
“Myself and several other fisherfolk operating out of Rose Place were hamstrung after the passing of Hurricane Beryl, and we were assured by authorities we would be paid income support following the assessment,” Edwards said.
Edwards indicated that he has essentially resigned himself to the likelihood of not receiving any at all.