DOUBLE-DIPPING AND TRIPLE-DIPPING

Jul 24, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The government contends that Guyanese living overseas will not be eligible for old age pension. This announcement was met with complaints by the opposition. But why should it?

It was the PPP who, without changing the laws, abolished the means test for the receipt of old age pension. This announcement under the Cheddi Jagan administration was greeted with widespread support, since many felt that the system under the old PNC regime was discriminatory and prevented many needy persons from receiving pension.

The PPP essentially passed a rule which said that once you are sixty-five years of age you are entitled to an old age pension. You did not need to prove whether you lacked the means to support yourself, in order to receive the pension.

The system worked for many years, fairly well, until the AFC felt that the list was bloated. There were also instances of fraud being committed. Steps were taken to reduce this by ensuring that when pensioners collected their annual pension books, they had to turn up in person to do so, except for shut-ins, for whom special arrangements were put in place. This guarded against the padding of the list. The PPPC, however, refused to undertake an independent audit of the old age pension roll.

The old age pension was increased over time to the extent that it became highly attractive to elderly Guyanese living overseas. It “fattened” their eyes. They wanted in.

Many of them believed that they could cash in. Many believed they were entitled to benefit from this. Some of them are believed to have actually been receiving the pensions while living overseas.

It has to be a case of pure greed for these persons who live in another country to still want to receive an old age non-contributory pension from the State of Guyana.

Many overseas-based Guyanese, it should be mentioned, had no interest in the NIS pensions until the PPPC began to, annually, increase those pensions. Then many who hardly worked in Guyana, or worked for only a couple of years, suddenly wanted to claim the NIS pensions. All manner of stories were manufactured about how long they worked in Guyana.

It was the same with the old age pension. The PPPC government recognized the problem, and passed a rule that in order to receive the pension you had to have been living in Guyana for two years. If you could not establish two years of residency prior, then you were not supposed to receive your pension book. This was the rule which was intended to prevent Guyanese living overseas from benefitting from the pension. It was a PPPC rule.

The rule was, from all accounts, strictly implemented. Even Guyanese who returned home to live had to wait two years before they could uplift their pensions. Applicants who were not on the register, had to bring letters from the immigration authorities to demonstrate they were not out of the country for a long period.

It is, therefore, something of a surprise to learn that the new APNU+AFC government is now saying that once you are living overseas you cannot receive the old age pension. Why would they be saying what is supposed to be the rule?

Is it that despite this rule, there are persons who live overseas and still find a way of uplifting their annual pension books? Was the two years residency rule flouted? If this is the case, then those who received pensions outside of the rules should be blacklisted and investigations launched as to how this happened.

The laws should be changed to ensure that the distribution of old age pension is law-based. It should never be at the discretion of anyone. The new law should make allowances for prosecution of those who break the new law.

What is disturbing is why is the PPPC complaining about the new system which the new government proposes to implement? All the new government is doing is implementing the system that the PPPC put in place, which outlawed overseas-based Guyanese from receiving the old age pension.

The PPPC should explain what is the source of its displeasure with the system as proposed?

By the way, is it right for someone who is resident in Guyana, and who is retired from the military or public service, to be receiving a State pension from the army or treasury, plus an NIS pension, plus old age pension, and on top of that now be receiving a monthly salary from the government? Is that not triple-dipping?

Should there not be a rule that once you are over sixty-five, and take up employment at a level higher than when you retired, you should temporarily forfeit your NIS or treasury pension and old age pension?

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2 thoughts on “DOUBLE-DIPPING AND TRIPLE-DIPPING”

george wiltshire July 24, 2016 at 7:11 am

I trust that we could see a livable wage implemented in Guyana. We should do more to take care of our retired public servants. I like the way Jagdeo did it for himself. That should now be the law. Every public servants pension should be tied to the level that he retired at. He should be getting two thirds of the salary for the position. So if their is an increase then automatically the retiree should receive the same.
Pam July 24, 2016 at 12:09 pm

What do you say about those pensioners who are now leaving Guyana to spend more time abroad with their children and return annually to Guyana to get away from the cold climate………don’t get NIS,don’t get govt. pension……..should their old -age pension now be cancelled?

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