Dear Editor,
It has now been 23 years since my mother has been receiving survivor’s benefits from the National Insurance Scheme. It has been 16 years since she has been receiving the benefits via the overseas route. The requirements have been that a life certificate is submitted which has been signed by a registered Notary who resides in the country where the pensioner lives.
As recently as January 2013 my mother received the benefits; the period when she received them was punctuated by some difficulties. The system was not working, hence pensioners had to wait several months to receive the pension. That being said, a life certificate was submitted on behalf of my mother in June 2013. On inquiring about not seeing any transfer of funds we were told that under new arrangements, in order for overseas pensioners to receive benefits a notorised form had to be signed by the officials at the Guyana Consulate for all pensioners who are over 80 years old. Further to that the pensioner has to appear before the
officials. Is anybody thinking about the elderly?
This new development paints a grim picture for pensioners and it makes me see that the elderly have no place in Guyanese society. NIS pensioners live in various states in the USA, and in fact in the world. My mother lives in Seattle. It requires travelling to appear before the Consu-late officials. Travelling for older persons has now become prohibitive.
I remember reading an article written by Freddie Kissoon some months ago where he referred to the ‘acceptable’ signatories who are required by the authorities at NIS. They were unbelievably archaic. Now we have this. When will those who are in the decision-making process arrive at reasonable solutions for the problems? They need to stop reacting and be proactive.
Are those selected to sit on boards just doing that ‒ sitting on boards? Or is this another way to deny pensioners who have contributed to the system their rewards due to frustration? Remember the discussions on extending the age to become pensionable?
Yours faithfully,
Maureen Williams
