Dear Editor,
Your letter contributor (‘Why did NIS announce insurable income ceiling increase in Mirror’ SN, October 6) raises at least three critical concerns. The main one was that the Mirror, which as every informed Guyanese would be aware, is a political party newspaper (the PPP organ), does not qualify for a National Insurance Scheme advertisement of the type published in or made reference to in your issue of October 3, 2015.
S/he proceeds by observing that there are only four local newspapers, and excludes both the Mirror and the news organ of the Catholic community, the Catholic Standard from the list. Apart from a disturbing trait towards a retreat or detour from the inclusivity concept, s/he is misguided and ignorant of the real facts. These include the following:-
- The Mirror is sold and/or distributed in all three counties of Guyana.
- Traditionally news vendors or news agents involved in the task of taking the paper into villages, townships and neighbourhoods were either party group members, or young teens in the secondary school who would have come from sugar or rice farmland families. However, since 1994 let us agree, the establishment of massive new housing schemes coupled with internal migration from Region Four and Region Five have created challenges that remain problematic at least for a weekly edition.
- In the urban locations and major townships of New Amsterdam and Linden the experience has been one where news vendors, apart from party activists, have reservations due to the discrimination, harassment and vilification they often times would have to endure. News vendors at the city municipal markets have had their fragile newstands destroyed for selling the Mirror. Others have been verbally abused. But this has failed to prevent the Mirror from reaching core target groups.
The other factor is that the Mirror reaches out to the poorer sector of workers. But there are other aspects that could be cited as part of the concerns as set out above. First, NIS sub-offices or branches at Anna Regina, Fort Wellington, New Amsterdam and Corriverton, similar to other government agencies operate on a five-day schedule each week. Under the current dispensation (evidently NIS workshops and consultations with stakeholders in parts of the sub-regions would have provided ample feedback), in the predominantly farmland communities citizens whose sole source of income makes it mandatory for them to be in the fields during the working hours of the NIS sub-offices or branches are at a disadvantage.
Public servants and other private sector NIS contributors, however, can sneak a 30 minutes or even their entire lunch hour and travel by minibus, taxicab or motor scooter to the NIS sub-centre in the non-urban and extra township areas. Additionally, one would be surprised (as I have been on occasions) to learn that in a number of ribbon settlements only the Stabroek News and of recent years, the Guyana Times, reach the indigent on the same scale as the Mirror.
Sugar workers, particularly those engaged both in seasonal and out of crop/out of grinding labour, in reality have a genuine problem to ascertain their NIS status. For decades this situation has been taken to the union representative (GAWU or NAACIE), and poor fellow, he is often at a loss as to the urgency of the workers’ demand. So what does he do? He raises it with the District or Regional Convenor (not the shop or factory rep). In due course, sometimes after several weeks, the problem reaches the NIS desk.
Outcomes vary as the bureaucracy reacts, especially at times when out of frustration NIS contributors mount picketing exercises in protest at what is perceived rightly or otherwise, as the faults of the NIS. And not surprisingly on the Corentyne the ‘abee’ factor surfaces, as no one can tell the NIS contributors anything. It would be a falsity to claim that the insurance increase should not be posted online. The problem, however, is reaching the broadest and most immediately affected target group within a division of labour that is both hybrid and underdeveloped.
Yours faithfully,
Eddi Rodney
