Nandlall threatens ‘drastic changes’ coming to NIS, ignores Scheme financial troubles

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, said there will be drastic changes to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), Guyana’s main social safety net. According to a recent Department of Public Information’s story the government claimed such change will allow contributors to receive their benefits through a simplified process.

The NIS is governed by Chapter 36:01. There have however been many reports the Scheme is being burdened under the weight of political pressure,  by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) officials, to bypass eligibility requirements for benefits and verification of contributions to qualify for benefits.

NIS at the end of 2021 had a deficit of $1.7 billion which threatens the Scheme’s longevity as government continues to ignore public calls to offset this deficit with oil and gas revenue.

In 2019, the Scheme spent more than it earned, ending the year with a deficit of $1.503 billion. The amount was absorbed by the National Insurance Fund, which stood at $31.731 billion.

Nandlall, speaking on his weekly televised programme ‘Issues in the News,’ whilst ignoring concerns about the scheme’s viability and overt political influence, stated “more changes are going to be made to ensure that persons who qualify for NIS, receive the benefits to which they are entitled under the NIS Act.” According to him, “whatever hurdles, administrative and otherwise, that are preventing that objective from being realised, we are uprooting them as we go along and making the process more accessible to a wider cross-section of Guyanese entitled under the scheme.”

The government has boasted of making changes over the past years to intensify efforts to clear the backlog of matters that were pending and improve the services to contributors but continues to ignore actuarial reports, full compliance with the law, and returning the scheme to financial viability.

In April 2022, PPP Leader, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo said contributors’ contributions are secured for the next “100 years” but never advised how this could be possible. Benefit payments continue to outstrip contributions but the government has not addressed the sustainability of the Scheme to ensure payment of benefits.

Invalidity and Old Age pensions were last increased in 2020 during the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government. Jagdeo, last year, ruled out any increase in pensions and benefits in the near future.

From the Scheme’s inception the PPP had a strange relationship with the organisation. Whilst the largest block of beneficiaries are sugar workers, the Party in Opposition had urged Guyanese, particularly its supporters, not to support the Scheme. During the Jagdeo presidency $5 billion was taken from the Fund and invested in CLICO which collapsed, and $2.5 billion in the Berbice Bridge.