SAUNDERS and WHITEMANPERMANENT SECRETARY in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ambassador Douglas Saunders, says he expects the eligibility report for the nearly 300 Haitians who have applied for political asylum here should be ready by month-end.
"We haven't quite completed interviews yet. We have about 35 of them left to be interviewed and by the middle of the month we could complete the processing. By the end of the month we should have a report," said Ambassador Saunders.
HOMELAND
Last month, the Government announced that, by July 31, it would have cost more than $60 million to accommodate the near 600 Haitians who fled their homeland after the ouster of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Information Minister Bur-chell Whiteman had said that, at the end of May, $28 million had been disbursed for the Haitian effort. Of that amount Jamaica had provided a substantial portion.
Minister Whiteman had also noted that estimates for completion of the activities and support over the period June to July 31 were put at $32 million. How-ever, the United Nations High Commissioner for Ref-ugees (UNHCR) had budgeted an amount of up to US$536,550 to be made available to Jamaica. The donation, valued at about $33 million, was expected to cover expenses up to July 31.
