Finance Minister launches Haiti Relief Fund – Presents $205M cheque to committee

Georgetown, GINA, January 14, 2010
A concerted effort to assist Haiti, recently devastated by an earthquake has resulted in Government pledging $205M to the national relief effort. Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, earlier today, presented the cheque to Chairperson of the National Committee for Haiti Relief, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand.
“It has been a long time since our region has faced a tragedy such as this and I think it is important that we demonstrate as a Guyanese people our resolve to respond in an appropriate manner and that we demonstrate the generosity for which we are known as a country and as a people,” Minister Singh said.
The cheque represents the fulfillment of President Bharrat Jagdeo’s pledge of support to Haiti and also the first deposit in the relief fund set up for Haiti. Minister Singh urged that persons contribute generously to the fund for which the account has been set up at Republic Bank as the Guyana Relief Fund for Haiti, Account number 119-900-9.    


Following a meeting yesterday with stakeholders convened by President Bharrat Jagdeo, a Committee was established to spearhead the effort which saw support from all stakeholders including the parliamentary parties, representatives of religious and faith based organisations, and non-governmental organisations.

“The President announced his intention, after of course having received feedback and support from those gathered, the President announced his intention to lead through Government a national effort so that we can be coordinated in our response so that we can optimize and be as efficient as possible in our response and most importantly so that we can present a strong, and positive and immediate and timely and effective Guyanese response to the tragedy,” Minister Singh said.
Recalling a visit to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) sister country after being appointed to his current post, Minister Singh stated that he remembered “the beauty of the country, the hospitality of the people, their courage and optimism, even as they faced difficulties economic and otherwise even at that time, their great courage and optimism and their huge talent in every respect”.
Noting that Haiti is a very highly valued bilateral partner and an important member of CARICOM, Minister Singh pointed out that the response across the Region has been one of unanimous support.
“Haiti is a sister member of Caricom, a very important member of the Caribbean region, a very highly valued bilateral partner to Guyana,” Minister Singh said.
The Finance Minister pointed out that during the initial stages, having heard about the earthquake, it was hoped that the occurrence would have had minimal impact but that hope was quickly replaced with the discovery that the devastation was widespread.
“I believe all Guyanese, indeed people across the world would have been transfixed by the images of devastation, crumbled infrastructure, people struggling for their lives, the rush in fact to save lives and the very clear reality that the impact of this natural disaster was of a magnitude that for a very long time will remain with the people of Haiti,” Minister Singh said.
Noting the unanimity with which the President’s initiative received support Minister Singh noted that this augurs well for the support.
The unanimity, with which this support was expressed, can only augur well for the quality of response that we offer as a country to our brothers and sisters in Haiti and in making this first contribution I would want to urge the widest possible support for this national effort”, the Finance Minister noted.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand who chairs the committee noted that the Committee is committed to ensuring that Guyana’s response is reflective of the way the Guyanese people feel about the tragedy.
The Committee will be embarking on a series of activities to assist the nation of Haiti including the hosting of a telethon on the National Communications Network (NCN) Inc. Channel 11 at 19:00 h (7 pm) this evening to allow Guyanese to make their contributions to the national effort.
The Committee will also be making appeals through the newspapers and a website which will be established shortly. Members of the Committee include representatives of each parliamentary political party, a representative of the three main religious groups, three representatives of the NGOs, and two representatives of the Government.
“The intention was, as it was expressed by persons yesterday who called for this, to have all efforts, every collection effort channelled to this one fund, the Guyana Relief Fund for Haiti sent from the nation of Guyana to the Nation of Haiti, sent from the people of Guyana to the people of Haiti so all efforts even if they are individual efforts in the sense of persons may very well be wanting to contribute or to make their donations to the church, the local church or the local organisations, that those organisations would all be accountable to the National Committee for Haiti Relief,” Minister Manickchand said.
Haiti was struck by an earthquake at around 17:00 h on Tuesday, January 12, a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale centered approximately 15 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital damaging most of the city.