Old age pensions could increase to $82,000 monthly without raising Treasury costs

Jan 11, 2026 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

(Kaieteur News) – Recently, the President announced that the government had “triangulated” the records relating to the issuance of driver’s licenses and discovered anomalies. This announcement came amid long-standing suspicions that a large number of persons driving on our roads were doing so with licenses obtained without meeting all legal requirements.

Rumors have circulated for years that some people were paying as much as $140,000 in bribes to secure a license. Yet, to date, no report has emerged of a single license being revoked. While we are told that action will be taken against those who issued these fraudulent licenses, the fact remains that the system’s integrity has been seemingly compromised for years.

If the government is serious about protecting the public interest, then driver’s licenses are not the only records in need of triangulation. Another critical area demanding scrutiny is the issuance of old age pensions.

This is not a trivial matter. Old age pensions are intended for those who have spent their lives contributing to the development of Guyana and have reached the age of 65, provided they meet the residency and domicile requirements. The rules are clear: to be eligible for an old age pension, a person must be at least 65 years old and have been resident and domiciled in Guyana for at least two consecutive years.

Yet, over the years, questions have arisen about how faithfully this law has been applied. I recall learning of a case from many years ago of an elderly woman who returned to Guyana after decades abroad. Despite being 70 years old, she was denied a pension because she had not met the two-year residency requirement. Tragically, she passed away before the residency requirement could be fulfilled. Her case is a stark reminder of the strict rules designed to ensure fairness.

However, stories continue to circulate of persons permanently resident overseas receiving Guyanese pensions. It is suspected that some individuals exploit loopholes in the system, such as using a Guyanese passport to enter the country while traveling on a foreign passport. This allows them to avoid creating official travel records that could expose their absence from the country. Worse, it is alleged that some corrupt officials within the system are accepting bribes to register overseas-based Guyanese for local pensions. Word on the street is that for one month’s pension as a bribe, you can get on the pension roll.

These allegations take on even greater significance in light of recent data on the pension roll. Last year, it was reported that some 73,000 persons were receiving old age pensions. To put this in perspective, the 2012 Population and Housing Census indicated that 38,319 persons in Guyana were aged 65 or older. The largest group was those aged 65 to 69, numbering 13,835. The next age bracket, ages 70 to 74, included 10,339 individuals, followed by 6,908 persons aged 75 to 79. The population aged 80 to 84 stood at 4,079, while those 85 years and older numbered 3,158.

Even allowing for population growth over the past decade, it is difficult to reconcile how the elderly population in Guyana could jump to 73,000 by 2024. Could it be that nearly twice the number of elderly persons are now receiving pensions than exist in the population?

It is worth noting that many years ago, when the pension roll had swelled to 54,000 persons, an AFC parliamentarian raised concerns about potential irregularities. Yet, no investigation followed. The failure to investigate then, combined with the current discrepancies, makes it urgent for a thorough forensic audit of the pension roll today.

A forensic investigation would answer key questions: Are the residency and age requirements being strictly applied? Have bribes or other forms of corruption allowed ineligible persons to be added to the roll? Are overseas-based Guyanese improperly receiving pensions intended for local residents? And perhaps most importantly, can the government restore public confidence in one of its most vital social programs?

The issue has significant financial and social implications. Old age pensions are funded from public resources, and any corruption or mismanagement undermines the system’s sustainability. Inflating the pension roll with ineligible recipients diverts funds away from increasing pensions. If, for example, twice as many persons receive pensions, than are eligible, it means that if these ineligible persons were removed from the roll, old age pensions can increased to $82,000 per month without any additional cost to the treasury.

The President has demonstrated the capacity and willingness to act when anomalies are discovered, as seen with driver’s licenses. The same rigor should now be applied to the pension system. Triangulating records, conducting a full forensic audit, and pursuing accountability for any irregularities are essential steps. Only through such measures can the government ensure that old age pensions reach the rightful beneficiaries, prevent misuse of public funds, and restore public confidence in the system.

This is why a forensic investigation into Guyana’s old age pension roll is not just warranted—it is overdue. The people of Guyana deserve a pension system that is fair, transparent, and free from corruption.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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driver’s licenses, Old Age, Peeping Tom, Pensions

One thought on “Old age pensions could increase to $82,000 monthly without raising Treasury costs”

Colin Mapp January 11, 2026 at 11:56 am

Om. What is a”ttrangulation?” Does it have legs? Or wings? Is it contagious? My grandma wants to know. Om. She loves your articles. But can you make them a bit less difficult to understand.

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