-say vulnerable groups suffering
The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) says it is concerned about the length of time being taken to determine the status of the local CLICO entity while its most vulnerable dependants are suffering.
In a press release the GMSA Board of Directors said member companies of the Association and employees corporately and personally have been severely affected and inconvenienced by the unfortunate developments last year with CLICO (Guyana) Ltd. The company collapsed after its Trinidad parent company was bailed out by the Port-of-Spain government and after its Bahamas sister company folded while holding a large percentage of its assets.
“As a body representing the interests of these private sector companies, the GMSA cannot ignore the rising hopelessness being expressed and calls for strong and meaningful intervention,” the release said. The group is particularly concerned about the most vulnerable group whose employees, after having given service over the years and having reached the age of retirement, are unable to receive the benefits which they have earned and are due to them.
“The situation is made worse by the slow pace of the liquidation process and the uncertainty over the time required by the judicial system to have the situation resolved fairly,” the GMSA said. According to the release while these activities are taking place in and out of the courts sad stories can be heard about the unnecessary suffering being caused by the unavailability of health insurance, motor insurance and the pension. It said suffering employees now have to find money out-of-pocket for medical attention and those who are diabetic or hypertensive now have to pay, suffer or attend public health facilities.
The suffering and inconvenience must not be allowed to continue, the group said. It called on the responsible officers and functionaries in the various agencies and institutions “to pursue whatever course is necessary to resolve the issue and to bring an end to the anxiety being experienced by those who deserve much better at this stage of their lives.”
The CLICO crisis is around a year old and hundreds of Guyanese with policies and investments have been affected. A ruling was to be handed down in the High Court recently on the question of the liquidation of CLICO (Guyana) but this was halted when the latter filed a challenge in another court. This challenge is still to be determined.
The Government of Guyana had said that it would guarantee that no policy holder or investor in CLICO (Guyana) would suffer losses. Observers had suggested that considering the length of time the matter has remained in the court that the government could meet the immediate needs of those affected and seek to be reimbursed later when there was a resolution of the matter.
Funds from the Trinidad-financed petroleum fund had been set aside to assist Guyana in meeting payments to those affected.
There is also the outstanding question of a probe being mounted into CLICO Guyana to determine what transpired there and whether inside information allowed certain investors to withdraw their funds ahead of the collapse.
