Parliamentary pension

Feb 10, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Kaieteur News – I have seen recent correspondence in the media pointing out that former Minister, Balram Singh Rai, was denied his Parliamentary Pension as a serving Minister.
I should point out that he was not alone. There are, in fact, a number of Ministers, including myself, who served continuously beyond four (4) years, in my case eight (8) years, on or before October 1992, some today in their seventies, in my case, my eighties, who have been denied their right to this pension.
In fact, in 2018, I wrote the then Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, pointing this out, and I am aware that other Ministers in similar positions had written former President David Granger on the matter.
It is public knowledge that a Bill was introduced into the National Assembly to redress exactly the same situation for former Prime Minister, Hamilton Green, to enable him to receive a monthly pension of just over $1M on the basis of the salary of the then current Prime Minister. As far as I am concerned, this was well deserved but I continue to ask the question, what about the rest of us who are similarly entitled?
It was my understanding that the Bill should have, but did not, provide the same measure of relief for all those Parliamentarians who are still alive, who retired on or before October 1992.
I wonder if our new government will consider redressing this matter and whether it would receive the full support of the Opposition now sitting in Parliament.

Yours sincerely,
Kit Nascimento

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