IT is a song and dance Berbician pensioners know too well when they turn up at the cashier at the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) office in New Amsterdam to be told that there is no money available. I had the displeasure of visiting the office on Friday to make some enquiries about my mother’s benefits and I became so angry when I heard the security guard telling our old folks that “NIS doesn’t have money to pay”; and they should check back later. I was boiling with anger from within and all the frustrations that I hear this insurance company is putting Guyanese through came rushing back to my head.
Then I witnessed another instance of how some of us Guyanese display our utter ignorance. An old lady just rested her stuff on the cashier’s counter. She was perhaps making sure her documents were in order or her cheque had the correct amount. The cashier and security guard told the woman that she could not stand there and that she had to move. The poor woman then began to tell them that she would not be long, but the guard was insistent. Perhaps she thought she was vested with the full powers of the Guyana Police Force. Maybe the woman would have been escorted out if she had not moved. The pensioner then asked them why they spoke to her in that manner. This is truly a shame for Guyana. What I witnessed last Friday at the NIS New Amsterdam office was just a small tidbit of the nonsense that happens in various offices and public places on a daily basis, especially when persons depend on the service of others, like NIS. When I arrived at the office that morning, I had to report to the guard there as I was asked what business I am transacting. Do you believe this craziness?
But NIS knows well to collect people’s insurance fees on their salaries before workers even see it when the month is up. But they conveniently run out of cash to pay pensioners. Why do they have a big cashier booth at the New Amsterdam office for then? They should close it down. Why was there a cashier behind the counter on Friday morning when there is no cash?
There was a room full of pensioners sitting down, awaiting their pensions. This was a regular occurrence. I have heard that the office usually runs out of money and that pensioners have to go to the New Amsterdam Post Office. Is this fair to have our senior citizens be a part of such treatment by this scheme, to have them going here and there in search of what is rightly owed to them?
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