Efforts apace to stop pension fraud...Digitization of Old Age Pension to be enforced by Jan. 2017

Efforts apace to stop pension fraud…Digitization of Old Age Pension to be enforced by Jan. 2017

Aug 03, 2016 News

Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence

The Ministry of Social Protection is moving to introduce an automated distribution system for Old Age Pension by January 2017 to ensure greater efficiency, accountability and transparency.
According to information disseminated by the Ministry, all Old Age Pensioners will require the new National Identification Cards to collect their Old Age Pension in 2017.
As such, the Ministry is requesting that all Old Age Pensioners who do not have the nine digit identification cards issued in the last Registration Cycle by the Guyana Elections Commission, upgrade their National Identification Cards.
“The new system will only use the nine digit National Identification Cards. Pensioners are advised to capitalize on the ongoing registration process at the Guyana Elections Commission offices in their areas to have the new National Identification Cards if they have not done so already,” the Ministry outlined.
In recent years, there have been accusations that the Government’s old age pension scheme was laced with fraud, with many persons collecting under false pretence. With thousands of Guyanese living abroad, there have been known cases of so-called ‘double dipping’. The monthly pension is just over $18,000.
Last June, Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence had announced a plan towards digitising the pension system to make it more efficient in identifying redundancies in the system.
The Minister had highlighted the incidence of ‘double dipping’ – with persons not living in Guyana accessing pension from both the Guyanese government and the country in which they live in – among the issues to be addressed through the digitization process
“We will be putting an end to persons who are ‘double dipping’…We have persons who believe that it is their right to live in a foreign country and collect their pensions here. We are saying no, it is not going to happen,” Minister Lawrence said.
She added that last year this issue was brought to the attention of the staff of the ministry, who were advised they will be held responsible and surcharged where books are issued with them knowing the persons do not live in Guyana.
Persons desirous of accessing old age pension will have to be living in Guyana for a minimum of two years.
“In the hinterland regions we know there are persons with more than one identification card who draw (collect) pension under one name in one region, then travel to the next and draw under the other name,” Minister Lawrence explained.
She said that the issue of ‘double dipping’ is not limited to accessing pension, but also public assistance for school-aged children. She explained that some students are beneficiaries of public assistance in Guyana, but they also benefit from similar assistance in neighbouring Brazil.
“To address this, guardians will have to submit an attendance report for the child so that they can continue accessing such assistance,” Minister Lawrence stated.

1 thoughts on “Efforts apace to stop pension fraud…Digitization of Old Age Pension to be enforced by Jan. 2017”

carl veecock August 3, 2016 at 2:58 am

Much too much fuss is given to this miniscule matter.
It is not a ” right to live in a foreign country and collect their pensions here”. That is totally irrelevant. The matter at issue is whether they are collecting their old age pension in accordance with the prevailing law in Guyana.
Making reference to “a foreign country” is so infantile that it highlights the thinking of officials,
A close study of the operative system would not take more than a few days ( I say so based on my working skills), and from that analysis, compliance measures can be readily set in place.
How about doing spot checks on individuals?
How about using the police in the various regions to as well do spot checks?
There is too much concern about the pensions being collected in the foreign residence.
That has nothing to do with compliance with the laws of Guyana that govern payment of old age pensions.
Think you officials….just think!