Relief supplies removed from Customs have been returned to NEMO
A QUANTITY of relief supplies has been returned to the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO), after recently being removed without authorization from the Customs.
The relief supplies were sent to NEMO, already packed in buckets, but were removed from Customs by representatives of another organization with overseas Vincentian connection, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves highlighted this matter last Sunday, August 11, 2024, while speaking on the Issue at Hand programme on WEFM.
The prime minister said he learnt of the incident on Friday from NEMO’s Director, Michelle Forbes.
The buckets of relief supplies were sent to NEMO by Global Medic, a Canadian charitable organization.
The items were to be distributed in the Grenadines and on mainland St Vincent and the Grenadines, as a form of relief supplies to persons who were adversely affected by the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 1. Gonsalves said the other organization had also received supplies from their overseas donors.
However on the day the local representatives went to the Customs Department, they collected the items which were sent to them, as well as the buckets of supplies which were sent to NEMO. The buckets sent to NEMO included food items and health kits.
“Usually when these things come we’ll give a family a bucket,” Gonsalves explained. It is alleged that the organization which had no authorization to remove the supplies from the Customs, removed some stuffs from buckets and made individual parcels.
One day after the unauthorized removal, Customs officials reportedly called the persons involved and requested that the items for NEMO be returned.
“They did not return them,” Gonsalves said.
“If you see stuff there for NEMO and its not on your manifest, you can’t take it up.”
The items have since been returned to NEMO and the prime minister is calling for good reason to prevail in this matter. Soon after the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl, the government announced that it was providing duty free and other concessions for barrels from abroad up to the end of December this year.
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