Dear Editor,
My mother Jane C Cyrus is 92 years old and is now residing in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She formerly lived in Hopetown, West Coast Berbice. She has been a widow since 1995 and has collected NIS benefits from her deceased husband since 1995 in the form of a life certificate handled through the Fort Wellington NIS Office.
The last time any monies were uplifted for her through the life certificate was around 2005 from the Fort Wellington Office.
Mom is immobile now, not in good health and we plan on visiting Guyana soon, when her survivor benefits are ready. Almost a year ago we completed the life certificate for overseas pensioners, had it notarized and forwarded it to the Fort Wellington Office for them to begin the processing of her benefits that are due. We would like to visit when her money is ready to be uplifted.
I had someone check the Fort Wellington office repeatedly and we are getting the royal runaround. They said they cannot find the form which we completed twice. The forms were notarized. Mind you, this is not an initial application for processing through the Fort Wellington Office. I spoke on Thursday, June 6, 2013 with the Fort Wellington NIS Manager, and am getting nowhere. I called again on Friday July 5, 2013 and I was told to fill out another life certificate and send it to them. This will be the third time filling out the same form. They have not processed it and forwarded it to Georgetown. The office is inefficient to say the least.
My mother’s NIS number is B-3313327
Yours faithfully,
Barbara Cyrus
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Ms Dianne Lewis-Baxter, the PRO of NIS for any comment she might wish to make.
