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Old age pensioners scoff at $300 increase

Jan 08, 2009 News

Old age pensioners are scoffing at the five percent increase which was announced by the government in December, with some pensioners claiming that it is an insult to the senior citizens of the country.

The increase takes the old age pension from $6000 to $6,300.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security had announced in December that old age pensioners and persons on public assistance will benefit for a five percent increase benefiting in excess of 60,000 persons.

Pension accounts for in excess of 39,000 people while those on public assistance were in excess of 19,000 persons.

The increase represents an additional $1.3B to be given back to pensioners and persons on public assistance, she said.

However, in a recent letter to the Stabroek News, Retired Chief Fire Officer, Carl Rogers, sarcastically expressed profound gratitude to the government for the ‘substantial increase in old age pension.’

“This amount will now make it possible for me to purchase a small papaw, four fig bananas and perhaps two mints to improve my well being,” Rogers stated in his letter.

“Such generosity assures me that, despite the difficult times which face Guyana in the immediate future, we old folk have nothing to worry about,” he added.

Another pensioner who did not wish to be identified argued that old age pensioners have to live in the same environment as the ordinary man and therefore incur the same expenses.

“We old people have to eat and live just like the average person and this increase is such an insult to those persons who have given most of their lives to serve this country. This is the thanks we get,” the pensioner told this newspaper.

She argued that some pensioners depend wholly on the meager old age pension, since a lot of them are not recipients of government or NIS pension.

“Those who do not have relatives abroad to send a small piece for them every month will surely suffer, especially with prices skyrocketing everyday. I am almost unwilling to wade through water and join long lines to collect a little $300 extra,” the pensioner said.

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