Private Sector Commission Chairman Gerry Gouveia on Monday called for the “full brunt of the law” to be applied to private sector employers who neglect to remit National Insurance Scheme (NIS) funds deducted from their employees’ pay to the Scheme.
Gouveia’s comment follows chartered accountant Christopher Ram’s observations to Stabroek News that the private sector appears to treat the institution with “benign neglect.” Ram’s observations were made after NIS General Manager Doreen Nelson lamented the Scheme’s financial position in her speech to commemorate its 40th anniversary recently. Ram also suggested that the Scheme be de-politicised; pointing out that for the last 14 years the NIS Board has been chaired by Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon.
In an interview, Gouveia was asked whether Ram’s claims concerned him as head of the PSC. The PSC head said if the assertions were true, “It is criminal.”
He said the issue was not just about the non-payment of the NIS dues but an issue of workers’ rights, adding that it meant that workers had no financial coverage in case of sickness. Gouveia also said this issue had not been brought to his attention before but it is an offence for PSC members to engage in this unlawful act.”
Gouveia also called on the NIS to “Publish the names of all those culpable and the full brunt of the law must be applied to them.” He said too PSC members were also members of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and some were also members of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana whose Code of Ethics covers issues such as this one.
