Dear Editor,
I have some kind regard for the Minister of Social Protection and Human Services, Dr. Vindhya Persaud. My regard is based on what is more conducive to a better citizenry. Pension book distribution is drawing close on the minister’s calendar. The expectation is that there will be something different in this year’s process, spearheaded by a minister that cares for the people who fall under her sprawling portfolio, and to whom she owes a duty. At the risk of offending the government (what else is new?) and the minister (that does matter), the best has not been put out in recent years, and if I may be allowed the presumption, better can be done. Give the elderly people, some more space. Give them some more time. Yes, I am aware of the constraint of available Guyanese abandoning their posts on land and now furiously toiling on those offshore oil rigs. The Yanks get value for their dollar, take it from a silly fellow who should know. So, too, should the Guyanese geriatric demographic, for whom every dollar of that $40,000 monthly cash handout means the world.
Before moving forward, courtesy demands a pause for gratitude to be extended to Bharrat for his extra $4,000 monthly generosity. Those who said that the man is all for the foreigners, doesn’t have a heart, can kiss my appreciation to add theirs to the big boss man. Look! He just made it a policy to dole out $100,000 to all adults. Naturally, this makes the minister’s work harder because she only has less than half of that in her pension books, when the people need four times as much. Come to think of it, $40,000 a month for the aged in the richest country globally is really nothing but elder abuse and in full public view too. Talk about overweening haughtiness. Now, I have a recommendation for Minister Vindya. Gather the social protection team together, have them count the extensions and additional hours that had to be allocated last year to ensure that pensioners got their precious book. By the way, one only.
Instead of stopping and starting, and restarting in different locations, attach those same extra hours, let the people know, and spread out both the process and crowds. It should amount to close to the same expenditure of time and effort. It is one thing to observe cricket and Jamaican dancehall crowds in action. It is quite another to watch different crowds of weak and sick people assembled in different places to collect their book. While at it, I appeal to Minister Vindya to show her compassionate side-her human services side-provide a little bite to eat, so that the people can boost their sugar levels, give them some staying power in what can sometimes be a four hour process, at a minimum. The request is not for caviar curry, only a pastry or two. Guyana can afford it; the money can be found. If money can be found for Johnnie Walker Blue and Polish vodka, a little Chinese cake wouldn’t hurt. Please think about it, minister; am trying to be helpful.
Oh, another thing, and this one is personal. Please stop turning up and getting in the way with pep talks and the pompom parade. Of course, I know that that one is water on a duck’s back, since elections are in the air. No wonder it is so thick with smog, as if it is Los Angeles or New Delhi. I spare the Chinese today.
The key to all this is communications. Simply. Timely. Repeatedly. No criticism is directed, but I think that better can be done in the communications department. Facebook helps, but think of this, minister: the pension constituent have been reading only one kind of books all their lives. Those made of paper, and which have a page number on them. Incidentally minister, Guyanese don’t read the Mirror. When Jagan went down, so did the Mirror. Appreciate it if that message could be passed upstairs.
Also, try staggering the process alphabetically.
Yeah, I hear the cry and inquiry: where is the human capacity. Lastly, I was hoping to hear some talk about going paperless and less cash intensive with pension book distributions. But then the GPL handicaps introduced sobriety quickly. Damage could be done to the electronics. Elections loom large. Minister Vindya knows better than to get 76,000 mature voters angry.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall