BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AS at last week Friday (Oct. 9), approximately EC$9M of the EC$16M severance payment for former employees of the defunct St. Kitts Sugar Manufacturing Corporation (SSMC) had been paid, according to Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris.
In giving an update on the Sugar Workers Restoration Fund (SWRF) at his press conference Tuesday (Oct. 13), Dr. Harris said that that sum was distributed to 1,532 individuals.
The SWRF was established shortly after the Team Unity Government procured the sum from the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in March of this year.
About 3,000 applications were reportedly submitted and at the end of the entire process, it was announced that some 2,311 individuals were eligible for payment.
Distribution and collection of the cheques began on September 18, following a lengthy ceremony at the Clico Building which houses the SWRF office.
Dr. Harris said the largest cluster of beneficiaries came from Constituency Numbers Six, Seven and Eight.
“I have personally received widespread expressions of “thank you” from hundreds of former sugar workers and their families. Many of them hail from Constituency Number Six which incidentally had the largest number of payout…500 beneficiaries.
“And I want to make the point that there is nothing even strange about it, but it reflects the fairness of the system because the sugar belt, historically, is from Newton Ground to Canada. And when you look at the payout statistics you will reflect that in Number Six you had a high payout in terms of the number of beneficiaries. With Number Eight and Number Seven, they were the three largest beneficiary regions. Of course in Nevis they also had beneficiaries, and across Constituencies Nine, 10 and 11 beneficiaries were identified and so some of that bonanza, if you will, also reached over the waters rightly so to Nevis.”
Of the EC$9M payout, Dr. Harris advised that almost a half million dollars (41 cheques) was home-delivered “to those who cannot come to the office”.
He said the process of claiming by relatives of deceased former Sugar Workers should run more smoothly with the placement of lawyers who would validate the relevant documentation.
“With respect to those who have claimed on behalf of deceased persons, we now have put in place a number of lawyers who will help in validating the documents but also will prepare documents for those persons who will need that help.”
Reiterating his gratitude to the Government of Venezuela, Dr. Harris said, “I want again to thank the Government and people of Venezuela for their support to the Government on this particular initiative.”
