Dear Editor,
I was appalled, even shocked, when I learnt that after twenty years as a semi-autonomous organization the Guyana National Bureau of Statistics (BOS) does not have a pension plan for its employees.
During its twenty years of existence, a few employees reached the retirement age of sixty years, which is the pensionable age for the BOS staff who were not employed through the Public Service Commission. Unfortunately, however, those persons will not be receiving a pension and are yet to receive their long-service retirement benefit, since no system has been put in place to cater for this.
Editor, it boggles my mind to comprehend how an important organization like the Bureau of Statistics which falls under the watch of the Minister of Finance – the Chairman of the Board of Directors – does not have a pension plan for its employees after twenty years.
It is therefore out of concern for the future well-being of the employees of this organization, particularly those who have reached the pensionable age, that I decided to write this letter with the hope that the matter would come to the notice of the Minister of Finance and others concerned, and that the necessary action(s) would be taken to correct this serious shortcoming in the soonest possible time. This is in order that those young people at the BOS could be assured of a rewarding and fulfilling future with the organization.
Yours faithfully,
Adolphous Downer
