I was told a very mind-boggling story by a pensioner who lives near to me that really blew my mind away. The gentleman told me when he went to uplift his pension at the Melanie NIS office that he was told by the cashier that he was dead and was asked to leave the office. Here is a gentleman with his pension book, his national ID card, his NIS card standing in front of the cashier and other NIS officers to be told that he is dead.
The gentleman then took a bus and went to Georgetown to clarify his case as a dead man back from the grave, but the living man was told again that he has been dead a long time now, as shown in the NIS records. Having said that to the gentleman they sent him again to the Melanie NIS office. He went the next day again and was asked by an NIS officer to re-fill new forms to authenticate that he is alive. He filled out new forms and an NIS officer filled out a new Life Certificate for him. He waited again the next month and when he went to Georgetown again for his pension book was told again that he is dead and he, the living man declared dead, will have to take a lawyer to fight his case.
What bothers me most is for an NIS officer to tell that gentleman with all his identification that he is dead without showing him that a death certificate was issued by the GPO. All they are saying to him is that the computer record on his file is showing that the living man is dead. How did the computer record a man’s death if it was not recorded my someone collaborating with the NIS department who is trying to impersonate and defraud this poor pensioner? It means someone is collecting his pension by using his name. Where will this poor man get money from to take a lawyer to fight his case? Who will compensate him for all the travel money he spent to run up and down to NIS offices to be kicked around? This is a clear case of corruption that needs to be examined by the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Human Service.
This poor gentleman has bills to pay and needs to use his money to get food. Having produced all his documents that he is alive all they had to do is tell the poor pensioner that a mistake has been made and give
him the money they owed him. The man should really take a lawyer and sue the NIS. In many countries the NIS would have been taken to court. Too many of our poor citizens are being exploited by white collar criminals in high offices. Many estate workers are told that their contributions are not met thus depriving them of their pension when they are ready for it even though they have contributed over 40 years to the NIS. How ridiculous these people can be.
It is my sincere hope that the Ministry of Labour as well as the Ministry of Human Services look into these serious issues I addressed in this letter.
Yours faithfully,
Reverend Gideon Cecil
