By GHK Lall- It is the Guyana Way. The law provides. The numbers spiral. The wait intensifies. The suspense pierces. Sounds like a PPP Govt production. It is. On standby with hand outstretched are 27,000 Guyanese. They have given their labors to Guyana. They are NIS pensioners with increases due. According to attorney-at-law and chartered accountant, Mr. Chris Ram’s arithmetic, and his reading of the law.
To emphasise: some 27,000 NIS pensioners are due six years of backpay. The NIS board of directors and management have resorted to what’s now standard practice in Guyana. Stoic, monastic, silence. There was a Poor People Crusade in England. There could be a geriatric impatience in Guyana. Their ranks thin daily, some may not have much longer. Pay the pensioners. Please. What’s so hard to get that done?
Using a rough average, the 27,000 NIS pensioners are due somewhere around $500,000 or more each to bring them current, and this is for the minimum level recipients. I don’t think the NIS Board has expired. So, why are 27,000 NIS pensioners held hostage, left exposed to the elements? A crippling cost-of-living environment is one.
The arrears cash would make a difference, even if it’s to their bank accounts. Boards are autonomous bodies. They are supposed to act without fear, be independent. So, why is the NIS Board operating so sluggishly? The NIS Board can’t lose its voice. Even if it did, a decision could still be made, after proper voting.
Is the money due? If yes, then pay it to all the entitled. It is due. Is the money that’s due not available? How could that be in this season of plenty? Please find it. The rules say so, is clear about it. Whenever there’s a public service increase, NIS pensioners are entitled to 50 percent of that addition. What is holding back the NIS Board? Are these board members men or are they marshmallows? A Board of Directors is not a lump on a log; or a rubberstamp. Or an available doormat.
C’mon people! pay the 27,000 pensioners. Have a heart. These are older folks, some have aged more than some; ravages of time, hard Guyana environment. To the Board of Directors, I say: c’mon, let’s get it on. Pay the 27,000 people waiting, get moving. If the job can’t be done due to fear, the power of political subservience, or just plain lack of cojones, then move on. Let there be a Board that gets the money to the people. For whatever it’s worth, I have no claim, nothing due.
Now, I come to the minister. A Guyana Scholar, I hear he is. Means he has some skills, knows how to pay the bills. They have the weight of law and arithmetic behind them. In aggregate, there are some billions bill due to those NIS pensioners. Minister AK Singh doesn’t strike me as someone who quibbles. A minister with many record national budgets on his belt isn’t a slacker, can’t be a two-timer, will never be a welsher.
Time to pay the people, Hon Minister Singh. The PPP Govt looks terrible with 27,000 old people (excuse me) waiting and waiting and nothing coming for six long years. Money cannot be a problem; even if so, the government has to find it. A minister as efficient and competent as Dr. Singh surely can get this done in a hurry. If the NIS Board is prone to political fits, can’t make a decision to save its life, get rid of it. Then, what can it do? This is a crying shame, and look who’s doing the crying. Guyana’s cash-famished elderly.
Regardless of who dropped the ball here, or is holding 27,000 NIS pensioners to ransom (in their advanced years), I’m publicly calling out both the board and minister. Just handover the cash, please. If this has to be repeated, courtesies vanish, trashing advances.
