THE data entry verification project for the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has again attracted the attention of Cabinet, and according to Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, the October 2014 general report after being pursued by Cabinet shows the completion of all the outstanding data entries for computerisation. 

“The more formidable aspect of the project however, is the verification, and Cabinet noted, with some concern the situation of the end of October with just under two million records that still needed to be verified.”
He said that given the deadline for the total completion of the exercise, the NIS still has a few more weeks before December 31, 2014.
“We have the rest of November and the whole of December to have those less than two million verifications completed.”
The Cabinet Secretary pointed out that a specific category was drawn to Cabinet’s attention, which deals with contributors who for various reasons are unidentifiable. He explained that conventionally an employer enters a person’s name and NIS number and additional information when contributions are submitted for a particular period.
“What the scheme has been dealing with is suspense accounts for large numbers, thousands of contributors whose information identity is lacking, so the scheme has probably millions, for thousands of contributors who are unidentifiable.”
Dr. Luncheon added that this is a matter that has gripped the board, the management and Cabinet, notwithstanding its comfort with the status of the project at the end of October.
“It is still a bit disconcerting and unclear how the matching of the unidentified contributors with already collected contributions would be done hopefully before December 31, 2014.”
The data entry verification project was authorised on June 1 by Cabinet which would see the scheme addressing comprehensively and exhaustively the outstanding contribution records that have not been entered into the computer system of the organisation.
The situation of outstanding contributions not being in the database has contributed to significant vilification against the scheme among contributors, and pensioners who have deplored the denial of benefits that they insist they have earned, he stated.
These persons were denied their benefits simply because the contribution records had not been entered into the scheme’s database.