The Minister of Carriacou and Petit Martinique Affairs, George Prime, has outlined several areas which appear to have been abused by the former Minister, Elvin Nimrod, in the run up to general elections on July 8th 2008. The areas concerned are the public assistance programme, land distribution to a number of persons from June 9th 2008, just over one week after the date for election was announced and the Emergency Housing Programme. According the findings of a review of the land distribution activity, over 350 persons were provided with plots of land between the 13 June and the 17th June 2008. The ministry is now reviewing the process under which these allocations were made and has provided the information to the Attorney General for legal direction. Ministry of Carriacou and Petit Martinique Affairs officials say the criteria under which crown lands can be given out include whether the applicant already has land and his /her ability to pay. According to a list provided by ministry officials a number of persons who received parcels of land just prior to the general election did not meet the criteria for the distribution. Senator Prime said some of these persons report paying monies for the land but there is no record of payment in the treasury. The name James Stafford appears next to three parcels of land valued at over EC $38,000, all in Belair. The value of all the lands that were distributed is EC $1.693 million. A report from a review of the Emergency Housing Programme shows that while four persons received loans in 2007 to the tune of EC $9252.12 and grants at the level of EC $36,027.40, in 2008, six month prior to general elections 40 persons were given EC $95,012.16 in loans and 118 persons given EC $353,850.36 in grants. According to the report the signature of the former Minister of Carriacou and Petit Martinique Affairs appears on receipts that were processed by the treasury, although in some cases the companies have told those holding receipts that no material is available. Whether the treasury has already paid for these materials is being investigated. The third area under review is the public assistance programme which has no criteria that qualifies someone for assistance. The list of 304 names also includes the names of persons who are mentally or physically challenged which according to Senator Prime can be understood. However he pointed out that there are names of persons who do not reside either on the islands of Carriacou or Petit Martinique or in the state of Grenada. He noted that there are some names of people who cannot be identified and names of dead people. The largest concentration of names (84) is in Petit Martinique followed by Windward (41) in Carriacou. Inside Grenada News