Some in Sittwe complain of shortchanging on COVID-19 cash assistance 

By Khin Tharaphy Oo 02 Sep 2020

Khin Thraphy Oo | DMG
2 September, Sittwe 

Some households in Sittwe say they have not received any government cash assistance during the stay-at-home period put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Arakan State. 

Daw Soe Soe, a local living in block-13 in Ywatharyar, said: “I don’t get any assistance as I have no household list. The authorities announced that the people can register their names either with the household census or with the NRC [National Registration Card]. But the authorities said the people who have the household list will get cash assistance.” 

Since August 25, the government has provided case assistance for around 30,000 households that have no regular income, with K20,000 provided per household. 

“The government has announced that it will provide cash assistance of K20,000 per household,” said Ko Kaung Myat San, a local from Setyonesu ward-6. “But a household gets K14,000 or K15,000.” 

U Zeya Than Lin, the administrator of Setyonesu ward, said: “All households want cash assistance due to COVID-19. The government staff as well as the needy people want it. The reason why I cannot pay money fully is the cash assistance goes to all families whether they have regular income or not.”  

In addition, Setyonesu ward has squatters. Plans are underway to pay cash assistance only to the families that have houses in the town as objections have been raised to paying cash assistance to squatting families. There are more than 4,000 households in Setyonesu ward. 

On August 31, some lodged a complaint with Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu about a lack of government assistance during the coronavirus era and underpaid cash assistance, via the Arakan Human Rights Defenders and Promotion Association.