Dear Editor,
The Guyana Times carried an article in the December 28, 2014 edition bearing the caption ‘NIS giving workers headache’.
The issue of providing accurate contribution records has been challenging for the management to the National Insurance Scheme for years, especially as it relates to certain sections of the contributing population.
The Scheme has made tremendous efforts to resolve matters for sugar workers and has facilitated several meetings with officials from that sector and has seen results from those engagements. However, it must again be reiterated that the National Insurance Scheme can only make a decision based on the facts presented on a given case. Additionally, each case is unique and is therefore treated as such.
On the issue of paying pensions, please be informed that once a person satisfies the contribution requirement, (750 contributions) for an Old Age Pension, the Scheme is obligated to pay such a person a pension.
With reference to the specific cases mentioned, please be advised that National Insurance Scheme is currently addressing a list of outstanding matters that were forwarded from GuySuCo.
Some of the persons from that list have already received payments.
The Scheme wishes to inform the general public that each local office has a Data Entry Unit and as such contributions are entered at each local office.
Additionally, with the computerization of all local offices with the exception of the
Lethem Sub-Office, the accessing of information is universal and members of staff when giving feedback to members of the public, are expected to be guided by the information on the computer.
National Insurance wishes to apologize for the reported difficulties experienced at our offices in Region Six and to assure the general public that close monitoring of all local offices is a priority of the National Insurance Scheme.
NIS is working assiduously to verify (and correct as necessary) backlog data entered in the computer system. When this vital operation is completed soon, it is expected that the correct contribution of all bona fide contributors will be updated so that pension payments can commence.
Yours faithfully,
Dianne Lewis-Baxter
Publicity & Public Relations Officer
National Insurance Scheme
