Dear Editor,
How can the filing of an appeal by the office of the Attorney General to challenge the ruling of High Court Justice, Damone Younge, ordering the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to pay a pensioner his full, be justified? How does the decision to file an appeal give assurance to pensioners that their entitlement will be fairly dealt with?
After decades of fighting for their true pensions, numerous claimants were probably relieved that Justice Younge pointed out that affected pensioners should not be made to suffer for the failures of NIS and employers to reconcile their records. Instead of starting a legal challenge to continue to refuse payment, would it not be better and more people centered for NIS (and the Government) to look for ways to remedy the failings of the National Insurance system?
During his outreaches, President Ali promised to have the NIS backlog dealt with. And as recent as October this year, President Ali announced a comprehensive effort to resolve 10,000 pending NIS cases by the end of the year. It is sincerely hoped that the filing of the appeal is not included in the comprehensive effort. And, instead of filing an appeal, why not ensure that both NIS and employers continuously reconcile their records to resolve all the pending cases and make the system better for the future too?
Sincerely,
Faiyaz Alli