Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh has announced that he will be embarking on a series of countrywide outreaches to meet with residents on issues pertaining to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
A release from the ministry yesterday said that a team from the Ministry of Finance and the NIS will also be at hand during the outreaches to provide services. The first outreach meeting is slated to be held at the Giftland Mall, Turkeyen, Georgetown between 10 am and 8 pm tomorrow, July 17, 2021.
The release said that the matters to be dealt with at the outreaches include Compliance certificates, Contribution statements, Registration & replacement of NIS cards, Signing and submission of Life Certificates, Submission of Claims and Benefit and Pension queries.
In December 2020 last, just one month after the commencement of his duties as Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, the release said that Dr. Singh met with the new NIS Board. At that meeting he outlined his expectations and charged the Board to ensure these were met. He had noted then that, “Over the last several years, we have seen the progressive decline of the Scheme. The NIS faces a number of challenges at the macro level and has come under severe threat. It is therefore going to take a lot of work to return the Scheme to long term financial viability.”
The release said that the Minister had also underscored the importance the Irfaan-Ali led Government was placing on the Scheme and had reminded the Board that pensioners and retirees usually look forward to their pension in a timely manner while current contributors expect to receive their benefits promptly.
Over the years numerous would-be pensioners have complained about problems in ironing out contributions records and collecting their pensions.
Singh, the statement said, had also cited the Government’s grave concern at the number of complaints received from contributors about delays in receiving their benefits and entitlements most often as a result of incomplete records of their contributions to the Scheme. At that meeting, he had mandated the Board to address the problem immediately in order to ensure that public satisfaction with the level of service provided by the NIS improves urgently.
Since then the NIS has taken a number of steps to address several matters as flagged by the Senior Minister, the release added.
In December 2020, a new NIS Board was appointed comprising Ramesh Persaud as Chairman and Board members Holly Greaves (Ex Officio), Faizal Jaffarally, Yvonne Pearson, Maurice Solomon, Satanand Gopie, Kathleen Jason, Seepaul Narine and Gillian Burton-Persaud.
The second outreach will be at the car park at Parika in Region Three on Sunday, July 18, 2021 from 10 am to 4 pm. Additional outreach locations and dates are expected to be announced later.
