Pension increase is just one taxi fare - APNU MP

Pension increase is just one taxi fare – APNU MP

Apr 13, 2012 News

“Becoming a pensioner is a frightening experience, except if you are a former president and will be guaranteed millions in pension and benefits despite your age.”
This was the assertion of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) backbencher Joan Mabel Baveghems, during her presentation in the debate of the National Budget 2012 last Wednesday night.
Baveghems described the budget as the worst of its kind in all her years of existence in independent Guyana.
According to Baveghems, the government’s boast of several increases to pensioners and the income tax threshold is idle, since it is so miniscule. “It is not worth the paper it is printed on,” she opined.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh announced in this year’s budget that old age pension has been increased by $600 per month – a figure Baveghems said can only pay one taxi fare.
“This increase represents just one taxi fare, since most minibuses refuse to transport the elderly in their vehicles. That money will only pay one side of the fare for them to pick up the measly pension,” the APNU Member of Parliament stated, adding that sometimes the pensioners have to travel two or three times to the post office before they can receive the payment.
She urged that instead of just the $600 increase, the administration should consider giving pensioners a monthly hamper with basic foodstuff.
Baveghems said that in most cases, pensioners only receive the attention they deserve when they attain the coveted age of 100 years old.
“They are showered with gifts, hampers and attention, and this may be the reason why they die shortly after. They are not accustomed to all the fuss and attention,” she said to much laughter from both sides of the House.
On the question of social security, Baveghems told parliament that many persons continue to suffer, even though they are recipients of the government “stipend”. She described a scenario involving a single-parent mother who has to employ strange methods to ensure that her children receive a meal on a daily basis.
“She looks at the TV programme of death announcement and goes to the wake nearest to where she lives. She then is able to get food from the wake for herself and children for the next couple of days. Sometimes this is a nightly activity for her,” Baveghems explained.
She spoke of the country’s nurses, whose plight she said is worrying.
The opposition Member of Parliament is of the view that if Guyana continues to pay meagre salaries to its nurses, it will continue to lose them by the dozens and the health care system in Guyana will remain in a deplorable state.
“Perhaps some of the members of the government side of this House should go to the emergency section of the Georgetown Hospital in disguise and they will experience firsthand what Guyanese citizens experience daily,” Baveghems said.
According to Baveghems, so serious is the situation, that some private hospitals have resorted to recruiting nurses from overseas.
“One hospital has imported some from India and they can’t speak proper English, so the patients are at the mercy of these nurses who can’t communicate properly with them,” she noted.
Baveghems said that while the Finance Minister boasts how much money he has allocated to the health sector, there is still a lot that needs to be done to bring it up to an acceptable level.

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Pension increase is just one taxi fare – APNU MP

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