Ram slams govt’s pitiful payout to NIS pensioners

Apr 11, 2025 News

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…says initiative an attempt to bamboozle voters

Kaieteur News- Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram has criticised government’s handout of grants to pensioners who they said have not met the required number of contributions to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), saying that some of the people have contributed more than what is on the record. He also knocked the timing of the announcement of the handout, which he said can only be interpreted as an “undisguised attempt to bamboozle voters, using pensioners’ rightful entitlements as political currency for the upcoming elections.”

President Irfaan Ali said on Thursday that the payout could begin today after some $10 billion was transferred to the NIS. According to Presidentkaieteurf news

Ali, senior citizens who have made between 500 to 749 contributions will receive as follows: 500 to 549 NIS Contributions – One-Off Payment of $260,000; 550 to 599 NIS Contributions – One-Off Payment of $390,000; 600 to 699 NIS Contributions – One-Off Payment of $520,000 and 700 to 749 NIS Contributions – One-Off Payment of $650,000. President Ali said that some 25,000 pensioners nationwide will benefit from the grant.

However, in a letter to this newspaper analysing the payout, Ram said that for workers who have between 500-549 contributions recorded by NIS (representing approximately 10-11 years of labour at 50 contributions per year), the government offers $260,000. “This sounds substantial until one realises it amounts to just $84.80 per day when spread across the average 8.4-year pension term (from age 60 to the average pensioner’s age of 68.4 years).”

He noted too: “Those with 550-599 contributions receive $390,000 ($127.20 daily for the rest of their expected lives)- those with 600-699 contributions receive $520,000 ($169.60 daily for the rest of their expected lives) those with 700-749 contributions receive $650,000 ($212.00 daily for the rest of their expected lives).”

Pittance for years of service

Ram said the pensioners who will benefit from the grants would have dedicated over a decade to formal employment, dutifully making their NIS contributions, and now being “awarded what can only be described as a pittance in return.” He noted that many of them have contributed far more than what appears in their official records, “victims of an inefficient system that has repeatedly failed to document workers’ contributions properly.”

Ram, who is also an attorney-at-law, said this administrative failure represents “28 years of abysmal oversight – 24 years under PPP administrations and 4 years under the Coalition Government.” He added, “For nearly three decades, successive governments have allowed the NIS to deteriorate, ignoring actuarial recommendations, neglecting their responsibility to ensure proper record-keeping of workers’ contributions while expecting these workers to fund the system.”

He said what makes this situation particularly galling is its presentation and timing. “The government’s announcement features the President’s image more prominently than the actual awards, suggesting that these meagre sums should be received as generous gifts rather than the rightful entitlements they represent. Although these payments were announced several months ago, the timing of their implementation now, with such prominent political imagery, can only be interpreted as an undisguised attempt to bamboozle voters, using pensioners’ rightful entitlements as political currency for the upcoming elections.”

Adding further insult to injury, Ram said the paltry payments are financed from a $10 billion allocation in the 2025 Budget. “This substantial sum represents about 40% of the total amount paid to all 40,327 full pensioners by the NIS in 2022. Rather than using these funds to improve the lives of all pensioners meaningfully, the government has chosen to distribute them as politically-timed handouts, creating the illusion of generosity while shortchanging those who have contributed to our nation’s development.” Ram said, “Rather than taking responsibility for successive governments’ collective failure to provide proper oversight and implement necessary reforms, the current administration now presents these derisory payments as some gift when they represent a tiny fraction of what workers are rightfully owed after decades of governmental incompetence.”

Last year August, Ram decided to give two pensioners who have been denied old age pension from the NIS a monthly pension. The recipients, 68-year-old Julia Clarke and 73-year-old Shariff Zainul, have been receiving Ram’s contributions, which are 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 back in April last year.

 

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