THE humiliation begins on the appointed pay day. You report to the bank or post office to receive your pension that you have earned by dint of hard work over the years with government, only to be told by the teller that your name is not on the pay sheet. The poor pensioner is now in a confused state of mind, because without your money you cannot pay your bills or buy food. In that perturbed state of mind, the pensioner has to make a decision to either phone the ministry and that is a waste of time because the phone is always engaged or present himself/herself to the ministry, or the districts (Eg. Berbice, Essequibo, Linden), and it is a costly affair.

However, you make the sacrifice and you’re at the ministry expecting that with your I.D. Card, your problem could be sorted out by being paid either by cheque or cash. That is not so, first you are told about the late or non-arrival of your life certificate, and secondly you cannot be paid until the next month. The question is why must pensioners suffer this humiliation?

It was hinted to me by an inside source that the system of not paying pensions after the pay sheet had been made up is to minimise fraud within the ministry. I would like to remind those in authority that the Bible says that “there are no safety vaults on earth…all are stored up in heaven”. And as such, there will always be some smart person to circumvent the system.

In conclusion, I shall be grateful if the honourable minister could revisit the present system with the view of eliminating the humiliation of pensioners who inevitably suffer because of the miscreants within the ministry, and put in place the checks and balances and ensure that the pensioners are paid.