NIS ups pressure for returns on Berbice Bridge investments

Oct 03, 2017 News

Greaves confirmed as new chief
targets technology to reduce delays

NIS Chairman, Dr. Surendra Persaud with Mahendra Persaud, a staffer who worked for over 40 years at the entity.

The National Insurance Scheme (NIS), facing challenges of finding new incomes, says it is placing significant emphasis on an aggressive investment programme.
Speaking yesterday at the entity’s continuing 48th anniversary celebrations, Chairman of the Board, Dr. Surendra Persaud, disclosed that the sad reality is that the NIS has not had an investment policy with little progress made.
“When the new board came into being, the NIS did not have even an Investment Manager much less a department. Recently we have again placed an advert and hopefully we can find someone with the qualifications for this position.”
He noted that two investments- CLICO and the Berbice River Bridge–have been heavily criticized.
However, with the assistance of the Government of Guyana, the CLICO loss had been addressed. Over the next 10 years, the NIS will recover a majority of the original principal.
However, this would mean that NIS lost out on the potential of the over $5B which was sunk into CLICO.
The second was the investment in the BBCI (Berbice Bridge Company Inc).
“I am happy to report that the NIS representatives on the BBCI board have been pushing for the NIS to receive the return on this investment.”
Persaud anticipated that at least one of the investments made by the NIS in the BBCI will be redeemed before the end of this year.
Next year, NIS is readying to spend a considerable amount of time on its investment portfolio.
“It will be a two-step process- the first on the realignment of the portfolio with the Prudential Framework and then a relook at that framework to determine how it should be tweaked to meet the changing needs of the NIS. Finally this year we expect the actuarial review to be done. This review will hopefully reflect on the many challenges facing the NIS and propose the changes that could cope with these new realities.”
He said that the board as well as all policy makers will spend a significant part of 2018 wrestling with those recommendations.
Meanwhile, the chairman congratulated Holly Greaves who was confirmed as the new General Manager, following the departure of Doreen Nelson.
He also said that one of his biggest concerns is the performance of management.
“This I agree might seem harsh, but let’s be honest where does the buck stop. So I ask again what was management’s excuse? At the last anniversary I mentioned the case that was sitting on someone’s desk for years. Thankfully after I mentioned that, the case was resolved. But an NIS contributor should never had to resort to the Board or its Chairman for their case to be resolved,” he stressed.

Longest serving secretary at NIS, Beverly Scott being honored yesterday. She has been there 40 years.

He said that the current system allows the breeding of corruption and incompetence.
He questioned what would Greaves, as the GM do, when she finds that a senior employee has 1900-plus unresolved matters on their desk, “and thinking that it could not get worse she discovers that over 600-plus are over one-year-old. What should Ms Greaves do?”
Apologising for “beating up” on management, he stressed that it is “management’s responsibility” to manage the organization.
“I must say however that the behemoth that is the NIS has begun to change course. The GM has the full support of the board as she charts a new path for the NIS. A path based upon appropriate performance measures and competence.”
With regards to his plans for NIS, Dr. Persaud targeted smart phones and technology to reduce an unacceptable amount of resources to collect money and to disburse benefits.
“In the near future this will be completely replaced by electronic transfers. I expect that very soon Guyana will have a digital financial window, a single digital space where all payments to the Government and its semi-autonomous bodies will be made.
“And similarly all disbursements will be made electronically.”
He challenged management to complete at least five things before the 49th anniversary arrives.
These include 95 percent of pensioners receiving their monies directly into the bank; using digital technology to prove that they are alive; all payments printed on checks that can actually be deposited into a bank and that the same amount of claims be processed within 30 days.
The chairman, who has been there since 2015, is also targeting 95 percent of payments to the NIS to occur electronically by this time next year.