And while SIF's process is under multilateral scrutiny what happens at the Ministerial level at Economic Transformation? We asked Martinez whether his ministry facilitates payments hugging that ten thousand dollar threshold:
Osmond Martinez, Minister of State, Ministry of Economic Transformation
"For the grocery bags, it's 20... a little bit over $20,000."
Reporter
"And do you accumulate, say for Christmas, as the Cabinet Secretary has indicated some area reps do, so that they can give more during Christmas time?"
Osmond Martinez
"You know, there is a culture that practically during Christmas time, we won't only give to the families that are seriously in need, you know. And when we deal with communities like mine, for example I deal with a lot of small communities, I represent 21 small communities, one large village which is Bella Vista, which is actually larger than Punta Gorda Town, and Punta Gorda Town. And so in the villages, the practice is that you give to everyone in the community, so you won't only give to those that have need at the end. Practically, the villages that I represent, all of them fall within the poverty box, so it would be unfair just to give to one. And we don't play politics. So even for those few because there were very few who voted against me, who might even speak badly about me sometimes on social media when the time comes, we give to everyone. And that is a practice that we have, and you all can verify."
Reporter
"Not playing politics also applies to the suppliers who are there in your division?"
Osmond Martinez
"Well, I deal with during Christmas time, the one that provides the massive amount of supplies for me is Caribbean Chicken. And the reason why we use Caribbean Chicken is for two reasons: one is because they help us with the distribution, so normally the Mayan communities, they don't have refrigerators or anything, so they would have to take the chicken maybe on December 24th or 23rd. So they help us with the distribution, and it also helps me with that cause. And the second reason is because they are patient with me sometimes when it comes to payments. And you can verify that with Caribbean Chicken they have been very generous with me. Sometimes the payments are not there on time, and they will wait for me."
