Delays in moving ahead with some of the critical recommendations contained in the Report of the National Insurance Reform Committee could seriously affect the future viability of the Scheme, according to a source close to the Scheme.
Five months after the completion of, and submission of the report to Cabinet Secretary and NIS Board Chairman Dr Roger Luncheon there has been no official pronouncement on steps towards the Implementation of the report’s recommendations. In his letter to Dr Luncheon accompanying the report Chairman of the Reform Committee, Rajendra Rampersaud had said that the Committee looked forward “to a speedy implementation of the recommendations once the Board had accepted them.”
Stabroek Business understands that the Report of the Reform Committee is also to be considered by Cabinet and the National Assembly.
The source told Stabroek Business that that “the slow pace in moving the report forward” was “decidedly at variance with the apparent sense of importance that had been attached to the work of the Reform Committee in the first place.
Four sub-committees of the NIS Reform Committee were assigned to examine and make recommendations in relation to investment and financial management; benefits; legislation and compliance and Information/communication technology, organization and human resources. The source said that while the recommendations of each of the sub-committees were critical to improving the efficiency of the Scheme, the reform of regulations governing legislation and compliance were particularly critical since it was the effectiveness of the legal regime that determined compliance with NIS regulations.
Among the recommendations made by the legislation/ compliance sub-committee are the re-establishment of a Legal Department within the Scheme and the appointment of a Legal Adviser as Head of the Department. The source told Stabroek Business that the strengthening of the capacity of the NIS to address legal matters was vitally important since several of those matters had a bearing on compliance issues which are “of critical revenue-related importance” to the Scheme.
The report of the sub-committee also calls for the amendment of the National Insurance Act to allow cases of compliance delinquency to be handled in the commercial court. The NIS source told Stabroek Business that this recommendation was intended to expedite court proceedings in compliance cases “which are likely to be handled more speedily through the commercial courts”.
The sub-committee on legislation/compliance also recommends further amendments to the NIS Act to allow for the “garnishing” of the assets of delinquents and the simplification of both the term self-employment and the mechanisms for the payment of contributions by self-employed persons.
Stabroek Business understands that the focus of this recommendation seeks to eradicate the practice by some employers of deliberately and falsely designating some categories of employees as self-employed in order to evade liability for employer’s NIS contributions. The proposed new regulations also seek to enable self-employed persons to receive “short-term” NIS benefits.
