Dear Editor,
There is a saying that a society can be judged by the way it treats its elderly, very young and its women.
Please permit me to highlight the plight of the pensioners who are mostly old bauxite employees in the Kwakwani community. These pensioners have paid their National Insurance contributions in the early stages of their lives and are now receiving the reward. It is a requirement for them to submit a life certificate perodically to ensure that they can continue to receive their NIS pension.
When Bermine was in operation, some form of arrangement was in place for these pensioners to collect their pension books in Kwakwani, and even after Bermine closed operations there were frequent visits by NIS personnel to the community distributing pension books and assisting pensioners in whatever way possible. The service by the NIS Linden branch office during those times could have been considered very commendable, when one takes the cost of travelling to and from Kwakwani and the amount of pension to be collected into consideration.
Our old age pensioners should never be required to travel the tortuous Kwakwani-Linden trail, a journey that costs $4200 return and takes over three hours to collect their meagre pension or do business at the Linden branch office.
NIS can do better by sending an officer to Kwakwani on a scheduled visit every other month, or refund these pensioners the cost of their passage if they are asked to visit the office when the officer’s schedule cannot be fulfilled.
We as a people must take a stand and demand that our elderly are given the best of treatment so that when we come of age, the treatment given to us will be such that we will be comfortable.
Yours faithfully,
Jocelyn Morian
