A 76-year-old resident of Rosignol, West Bank Berbice is disappointed that after several years of paying National Insu-rance Scheme (NIS) dues, only 29 contributions are showing up in the system for him.
Wilfred Mangra told Stabroek News that he was disappointed that he was not receiving the NIS benefits he was entitled to.
Mangra said he qualified for many claims in the past while working at GuySuCo and other places. But yet he cannot understand how the system has records of him making only 29 contributions.
He said he has been fighting desperately to receive his benefits but so far he has not been successful. He had taken
the matter to the NIS tribunal three times with the hope of being given what is owed to him.
However, he lost the cases because his records could not be traced. His NIS number is: B-9564907. According to Mangra, his initial payments were made when the manual system was used to record them.
He said his file could have been misplaced because of someone’s negligence. Now, he said he is being denied his money.
He related that a few years ago NIS’s Public Relations Officer, Dianne Baxter had told him via telephone to go to the nearest NIS office with his concerns.
He then got on to Mr. Bristol, the NIS inspector at Fort Wellington at the time who visited him often and took his original documents away, promising to help.
Bristol told him he would help to “speed up the process” but he later learnt that Bristol left the job and he never got his documents back.
He visited Dr. Roger Luncheon, Chairman of the NIS, in February and brought the matter to his attention.
Dr. Luncheon requested three affidavits signed by witnesses to substantiate Mangra’s claim of making a lot more contributions.
The pensioner subsequently provided the document to Dr. Luncheon’s assistant, Ms Lowe. She had promised to write the general manager (GM) of the NIS, Doreen Nelson.
In March, he met with the assistant general manager of NIS, Mr. Boston to discuss the issue and gave him a copy of the affidavit as well.
Mangra is calling on the relevant authorities, including the government, the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers’ Union and NIS’s GM, to look into his issue.
He lamented that as a person who suffers medical complications he has to bear a lot of expenses in medical treatment and badly needs his money.
He had suffered a heart attack in November 2011when someone lobbed a “bomb” at his house. He said the explosive device had caused his roof to be badly damaged and he was almost injured in the process.
