Dear Editor,
Pensions and what they signify are often important only to pensioners. For pensioners, the bulk of whom are poor, it is about the pain of the increased medical bills that come with old age and inflation which invariably comes with the passage of time and remains inadequately addressed when it affects pensions.
A look at the two public pensions, Old Age and NIS will show that the minimum paid has no relationship to the cost of living index or to the national minimum salary/wages scale which stands at $35.000. The Old Age is $13.000+ and NIS is now $22.000+.
There was a time in the ʼ60s and ʼ70s when the government paid attention to the Cost of Living Index; certain items, like sugar and rice were subsidized; and food prices were scrutinized to ensure that businesses did not go overboard on their profit margins.
The NIS at one time had a form which associated or tied your contributions to your salary scale. That form was subsequently removed, silently, thus exposing many persons including a senior retired functionary of UG, now deceased, to a NIS pension of $3,000.00 at a time when the National Minimum was a double figure.
I believe that the tying of your contribution to a number or group on the national salary scales list is a safety valve against being cheated of your rightful pension when inflation rears its ugly head.
Our leaders should ensure that both the old age pension and NIS minimum pension be at least related in some significant way to the national minimum salary.
Yours faithfully,
Berkeley Houston
