Editorial
An eye catcher in the past week came in the form of a release put out by the Ministry of Finance on the growing amount of "Returned Cheques" in its possession.
The claim is that over quarter-of-a-million E.C dollars is being held by the government in what is commonly called "Bounced cheques" from persons doing business with the State.
Although, the release did not give a breakdown in terms of whether a small or large amount of persons are responsible for this state of affairs, that is indeed a lot of money.
The release dated, Monday, May 05, 2008 reads:
The Government of Grenada views with great concern the growing list of returned cheques, now in its possession, totaling almost EC$300,000.00, as at April 7th, 2008.
The Government hereby advises and reminds the general public that according to the Criminal Code Section 283, Sub-section 2: "Whoever fraudulently issues a cheque for the purpose of obtaining credit, or in purported satisfaction of a debt, or for the purpose of obtaining any other thing, where the credit, debt or other thing is of a value exceeding two thousand dollars when he knows or ought to know that there are not sufficient funds in the account regarding which he issues the cheque, shall be liable to imprisonment for five years."
In this regard the Ministry of Finance is seeking legal advice:
*To publicly name persons committing the offense; and
*To formally prosecute these persons.
All persons who have issued cheques to Government, and are aware that these cheques have been returned by their respective banks, are asked to come into the Accountant General's Department to have their situation rectified with immediate effect.
Failure to do so will warrant further action by Government. All concerned are asked to take note".
GRENADA TODAY is trying to read into the statement in light of signs that the local economy is not as robust as the ruling New National Party (NNP) would like us to believe.
The recession now affecting the United States, a major source of remittances for us as a people, would have significant impact on life in the Spice Isle.
The government is not doing anything of substance to suggest that the economy is about to take off.
It is nothing but more and more ole talk about "let the progress continue" in order to try and remain in power in light of the threat posed by the main opposition, National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the upcoming general elections.
Those of us who are living in Grenada, and not casual visitors who easily get impressed with concrete structures like the Stadium, Cruise Ship Terminal and the New St. George's Port know what it is like to cope with the rising cost-of-living in the face of substandard wages.
It would make for interesting analysis, the amount of "Bounced Cheques" in the hands of private sector companies from persons doing business with them in the past year or thereabout.
Those persons who depend on the St. George's Port for their livelihood have been reporting in recent weeks a drop in activities.
There are reports that even some Customs Brokers do not turn up daily on the Port looking for work in light of the slow-down in the number of imported goods into the country.
Clearly, this situation would affect government's revenue intake.
And in the face of a shortage or scarcity of money in circulation, not only government but the private sector run risk of seeing more and more "bounced cheques" flying around the place.
This newspaper is under the impression that the current economic hardship is affecting all Grenadians and not just the poor and marginalised in the society.
When the small man cannot find money to fulfill his daily needs then those who depend on his spending power would also be affected, creating a sort of boomerang effect.
And the government can ill-afford this situation to continue unchecked in an election year when it needs all the funds possible to seek another term in office.
With the sale of government shares in Cable & Wireless not doing as well as anticipated among ordinary Grenadians, and with the Keith Mitchell-led government on the hunt for finance to meet large pay-outs to civil servants, the "Bounced Cheque" issue is not good news for the regime.
