Leroy Rose of Port Mourant on the Corentyne has finally overcome the challenges he has faced in his efforts to obtain his National Insurance Scheme (NIS) old-age pension.
After visiting NIS’s booth at the government outreach in East Berbice, the senior citizen will now be able to access his first tranche of pension by the end of April.
“I feel so happy that I came here today, why I am happy is because all the doubts were cleared up and they told me by next week or so I should check with them, after the holiday and I will be grateful for that because I will depend on that my children live overseas but this is what I will be depending on,” a grateful Rose declared in an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI).
The former Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Security Officer stated that he served the company in Berbice, from the age of sixteen until the date of the incident which caused him to lose a leg. He disclosed that he experienced several delays in positive responses to his application for a pension which he submitted since December 2018. Rose noted that after celebrating his 60th birthday, he has made several efforts to access his old age pension from NIS in both Berbice and Georgetown.
In an incident that took place in 2017, Rose had to have his leg severed after a cow went berserk and its horn protruded through it, causing severe damage to the limb. The former GuySuCo employee explained how it happened.
“I left my job to go home and return, while I was home my neighbour asked me to lend him a length of rope because we are both cattle farmers so I took the rope across to him and in the process of carrying this rope across a little boy threw a rope on a wild cow and the cow started attacking me. The cow plunged into my back, the horn passed through my leg and it ripped all the arteries… Also, the bone broke above the knee and below the knee. The doctors at Georgetown Hospital tried their best but couldn’t save the foot because the bones were crumbled.”
Since the accident, Rose has been seeking justice from the owner of the animal including going to the police in the region. “The owner for the cow migrated, he called me and threatened me asking why I had to go to the police but it didn’t move me…It’s not a small piece of my body missing, I don’t have a knee, I don’t have an ankle, I don’t have a foot.”
Rose told the DPI that he became dependent on his GuySuCo pension after he was no longer able to work. However, now that he is able to obtain a pension from NIS, it means he will be able to take care of himself more efficiently since he has so far not been able settle the issue of compensation with the owner of the cow.
