Social Affairs and Housing (Sozavo) Minister Diana Pokie announced that the ministry has finished most of the paperwork in order to clear the backlog but that it is dependent on the Ministry of Finance and Planning to make the funds that are required to proceed with the payments available. The residents from Sipaliwini and Brokopondo who did not want to wait for the payments in their areas were given the opportunity to receive the backpayments in Paramaribo. This helped to clear a portion of the backlog. “Our people also went to those areas. We did not manage to make the payments in Upper-Marowijne, Upper-Suriname and Brokopondo. We must still receive some funds from the Finance Ministry”, said Minister Pokie, who added that the list of people who are entitled to receive welfare must be updated as the information has not been verified for the past couple of years. Some of the people who are still on the list are either dead, living elsewhere or no longer meet the requirements. Minister Pokie explained that she wants to a rap the traditional manner in which payments take place in the hinterland. Huge sums of money are transported to remote areas before the payments take place. She pointed out that this procedure not only generates high costs but that it is also very risky. The government wants to introduce a system that will make it possible to make the payments electronically so that the transportation of huge sums of money to remote locations by boat will become a thing of the past. The local banks are reportedly eager to support the electronic syste