The archaic construct of the blueprint for the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is in dire need of a review, re-evaluation and restructuring because, apart from the deliberate cheating of many contributors of their deserved benefits, the system itself is skewed in favour of the state. The National Insurance Scheme was established by the then PNC administration in a frantic bid to inject some desperately needed funds into the national coffers during a period when the country had been driven practically bankrupt; thus, while ostensibly created to provide financial security for the nation’s workers, in most instances it instead robs them of their benefits.
Contributing to the NIS is an involuntary prerequisite to legitimately earning an income.  Many persons, if they had a choice, would not give their hard-earned money to the hungry and bottomless maw of that state entity, because, once swallowed, the accrual benefits owed the contributor rarely fructifies.
Staff in the pensions department cannot provide information on the way a contributor’s pension is calculated; so one wonders what they are doing there in the first place, because this is basic information that any pensioner would ask for.
An institution such as the NIS does not have a handbook of information, despite its many arms with just as many areas of responsibility.  Persons seeking service from that entity are shuttled from one branch to the other while seeking the most basic information and services.
While there has been continuous revision of the nation’s constitutional laws since the PPP/C took office in 1992, there are institutions that deal with people’s rights that also need that level of intervention, and the NIS needs urgent surgical and medical interventions to reform its benefits construct.
Many persons who have contributed from  lifetime  earnings are told that they do not have the requisite amount of contributions, and one wonders how part of one’s records can literally disappear from the database of such an institution.
Also, the application of the rules most often cannot bear scrutiny, leading to suspicion of massive fraud within the system or, at best, overwhelming inefficiency by management and staff of that institution.
The People’s Progressive Party is the working people’s party and, while they have done much to redress anomalies in the socio-economic landscape of the nation in efforts to enhance the lives and lifestyles of working-class Guyanese, the vital NIS is one area they have overlooked, and addressing the configurations that are leading to much socio-economic dislocations by sick and elderly people, and the dependants of deceased contributors, is a dire imperative that needs to be addressed with great urgency.
It would take volumes to document the persons who claim to have been robbed of their legitimate benefits by the NIS construct, but I will briefly outline a few cases in point as follows.
Kawal has worked at the LBI Estate in excess of two decades.  However, having been diagnosed with a heart ailment, he was recommended for invalidity pension by Dr. Doobay, whose clinic he still attends.  In spite of the renowned Dr. Doobay’s recommendations, Kawal’s disability pension was peremptorily stopped on recommendation by the NIS doctor after a review; and one wonders if that doctor is a heart specialist and if the cursory examination he conducted can determine whether one is suffering from a heart ailment or not.
Mohan Ram, whose NIS No is A18621193, worked for decades, since a young man, at the Wales sugar estate, only to be told when he reached retirement age that he did not qualify for pension and was offered a ridiculous sum as a grant for the contributions they found on his record.
He appealed and they corrected his record, which amounted to in excess of 1300 contributions.  However, the NIS is still robbing him of a portion of his benefits, because he is being paid the minimal sum that is payable on 750 contributions, whereby he should be receiving an additional one percent for every 50 contributions above the stipulated qualifying amount for pension.
Budhan of the Diamond Estate, NIS No. D4470142, has also been told that he does not have enough contributions to qualify for pension, despite GuySuCo’s records proving otherwise.  He was due for pension since 2007, but was instead offered a minimal amount as a grant for the contributions on NIS records.
To date, NIS is not responding to his appeal.
There are NIS numbers and adjunctive birth dates specific to individuals, even if names are misspelt, which often happens in Guyana because of the carelessness, or even inability to spell, of clerical staff; so it is a mystery worthy of being recorded by Ripley why huge chunks of workers’ contributions disappear from their records in the NIS.
There certainly seems to be a mischievous or fraudulent genie at work in that institution.  However, until and unless an in-depth investigation is conducted on the operational methodologies of that entity, and a revamp of its benefits paradigm is essayed, many of Guyana’s poor will continue to live in penury in the twilight of their years and go to their graves without ever receiving their rightful due after having worked unremittingly all their lives and consequentially contributed to the development of Guyana, even if merely by way of their taxes and NIS contributions.
A few thousands out of a poor person’s wages each week or month is not an insignificant sum, because that amount can purchase many necessities.  However, if that contribution can save him/her from starvation when they can no longer work then it is a worthwhile incentive to surrender that sum; but the systems should work justly and equitably for it to be an effective socio-economic support for Guyana’s senior citizens in the twilight of their years.
As it currently stands, NIS is the antithesis of the Robin Hood syndrome, because it works in reverse and robs the poor people of the nation, with many persons literally dying for want of repayment of their own hard-earned monies when they most need them.