The National Commission for Self Help Ltd (NCSHL) has been distributing grants in Tobago in the days before the December 6 THA elections.

The media were not invited to these distributions and no press releases about them were sent out.

Despite numerous attempts, Newsday was unable to confirm how many grants were prepared and the amount distributed last Thursday, Tuesday and this Thursday. Newsday understands the distribution started last week.

Scores of people were seen on these days visiting the office on Milford Road in Canaan.

signing at a table set up at the entrance and leaving with envelopes.

On Thursday there was a line of people around 9 am waiting to collect grants of between $15,000 and $25,000 for home repairs.

After an hour people trickled in, some seen running through the rain on their way to the office to collect.

A few grant recipients stopped across the street to talk to Newsday after collecting their grants during the commission’s third distribution on the island.

Rhonda Fraser said, “I have been out of work for over a year, so anything I get is small.

“I’m normally an independent person and I do my own stuff, so this assistance kind of cushions the fall of the economy.”

She also told Newsday she applied for the grant early last year and was surprised by how quickly the application was processed after she was called in to update the invoice.

“I got a call a couple of days ago to redo my quotation. I did that, dropped in it and got a call yesterday to come, so of course, I was very surprised.”

She doesn’t think the grant distribution was linked to the upcoming Tobago House of Assembly election.

“I don’t think so, because my parents are elderly and when the field officer saw the need to have my application processed quickly. I think it was more passion than an election gimmick.”

Another woman said she applied and has been waiting for six years. Her home is on the verge of collapsing and needed emergency repairs.

“The house was low and the water was undermining the land. Eventually we tried to do something. They only came some time last week to see what needed to be done to process the application, and they called yesterday to tell me to come.”

She received a $15,000 house repair grant for her Golden Lane home.

[caption id="attachment_927661" align="alignnone" width="1024"] FILE PHOTO: Elroy Julien, CEO of National Commission for Self-Help Ltd, right, presents Carol Thomas with a grant for home repairs at a drive-through grant distribution ceremony at Barrington's Court, Tobago, on August 11. - DAVID REID[/caption]

“I have been calling over and over for the past six years, and all they keep telling me is that it’s approved, (but) they are waiting for funds to be released.

“When election time coming, they bring all the gifts and goodies to support them…they could have given all these people the grant already, but they waited until three days before the election