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Duo get pension contributions from Chris Ram after being denied by NIS
Attorney-at-Law Chris Ram (right) handing over his contributions to Julia Clarke and Shariff Zainul on Friday.
Kaieteur News – Two pensioners who have been denied old age pension from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) will receive the monthly pension amount from Attorney Christopher Ram.
The recipients, 68-year-old Julia Clarke and 73-year-old Shariff Zainul, will receive Ram’s contributions, which is equivalent to an NIS old age pension, on a monthly basis.
“What I have decided to do is that I will give both of them an NIS pension indefinitely until the NIS starts paying them, if NIS don’t start paying them, then I will continue to pay them,” Ram said at a simple handing over ceremony held at his office on Waterloo Street, Georgetown.
In a brief statement to the press, Ram said “You will recall that we met in November 2023, after the Court had ruled that the National Insurance Scheme pay an NIS pension to a 73-year-old former employee of Toolsie Persaud Limited… the NIS appealed the decision and on 26 January this year, the Full Court of the High Court referred the matter back to the Trial Judge. The matter is still pending while Mr. Zainul is deprived of a modest pension for which he contributed for over decades.”
In the case of Ms. Clarke, Ram briefed that according to the records of the NIS, she has 739 contributions, which is 11 short of the 750 to qualify for an NIS pension. According to him, Clarke disputes “the poorly kept records of the NIS, providing evidence that her employment with one employer alone, qualifies her for a pension and not a one-off grant.”
Like Mr. Zainul she too submitted her pay slips to the NIS.
Ram said that in many cases like Zainul and Clarke’s it is incumbent on the Administration to restore public confidence in the NIS by making it “more transparent, accountable and responsive to members of the public generally and to contributors and claimants in particular.”
“We implore the Government to immediately withdraw its appeal against the court’s decision in the Zainul matter and to review cases like Julia’s Clarke in an enlightened, humane manner. We also call for the immediate implementation of a sliding scale or partial pension system for persons who have made more than 500 contributions, the equivalent of ten years,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking with Kaieteur News on Friday at Ram’s office, Zainul said that he has been back and forth with NIS since 2011 and in 2019 he decided to take the matter to court.
It was reported in the media that last November, High Court Justice Damone Younge ordered the NIS to pay Zainul his full benefits.
The ruling was made after Zainul was able to prove to the court that he worked with the company for several years and that the contributions were deducted from his salary.
The High Court ordered the NIS to credit Zainul 354 contributions which his former employer, TPL, failed to remit to NIS while he worked there from 1992 to 2000. The NIS was also ordered to pay Zainul his NIS Pension effective October 16, 2011, to the date of his 60th birthday. However, the matter was appealed in December 2023.
Meanwhile, speaking of Ram’s contributions, Zainul said that it is going to benefit him significantly.
“Right now I only depend on my family and friends, right now I am a sick person I don’t come out often, right now my family and friends does support me. I am getting a pension from government yes, but that’s hardly up keeping me, things are very high, cost of living is very high,” he explained.
Clarke told this publication that she has been “running behind” NIS since 2019 about the records of her contributions. Expressing gratitude, she said Ram’s contributions will help to contribute to her medical bills.
“I thank God for this age but I am not fully (well) with all of my strength because I am at the hospital, right now they are carrying out some screening I don’t know what it is. Some days I’m up, some days I’m down, pain all over my body. The sickness bill, that old age pension money cannot work. That is why I was running behind this NIS,” she explained.
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