A FORENSIC audit and review of the Old Age Pension Scheme has indicated that the Ministry of Human Services (MHS) may have distributed pension books to non-existent persons under the former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration.A detailed report compiled by Nisam Ali and Company has informed the Finance Ministry that evidence suggests the pension books were distributed to non-existent and unqualified persons during the period under review: January 1, 2015 to May 31, 2015.

The auditors said there were 27 instances when ineligible persons collected pension books. “We attempted to confirm the existence of these persons by contacting them; however, our attempts were unsuccessful,” the consultants stated.

Additionally, there is no system in place to ensure that pensioners in the hinterland are alive. As such, there is a possibility that Old Age Pension Books are being distributed to ‘ghost’ pensioners.

It was explained that the MHS has entrusted toshaos and village councillors with the distribution of Old Age Pension Books in the hinterland areas. As a result, the pensioners are not required to sign the distribution sheets to uplift the pension books, which are distributed during the months of November and December.

Additionally, the pension vouchers may be encashed by the toshaos or village councillors.

In defence, the MHS has said that such a system was created to cater to the remoteness of the hinterland regions, which makes access to beneficiaries not only difficult, but costly. To facilitate the process of timely distribution, village councillors and toshaos are solicited.

According to the MHS, “These persons, by virtue of their office and status, are legally and culturally responsible for the welfare and well-being of the people they serve.”

The MHS, formerly the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, has said the established system has proven to be very cost effective and efficient; but the auditors are maintaining that the system may result in distribution of pension booklets to non-existent persons.

In January 2011, the late Alliance For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament Sheila Holder contended that 17,640 persons who were listed on the 2010 Old Age Pensioners’ Register were phantoms. She argued that payments to the ‘phantom pensioners’ had totalled some $116M monthly, or $1.3B annually.

Holder had told the National Assembly that according to the Guyana Population and Housing Census, in 2002, the number of individuals over 65 was 32,030; and this number had risen proportionately from 3.9 per cent of the population in 1980 to 4.3 per cent then. According to statistics from the MHS, she said, the number of pensioners had increased significantly — to 44,000 in 2010 from its 2002 figure of 33,425.

Those indicators, coupled with other computations done by Holder, had resulted in the conclusion being arrived at that there had been an increase in ‘phantom pensioners’.

During the initial stage of the recent investigation, Nisam Ali and Company was presented with two incorrect lists of eligible pensioners. “After providing us with two incorrect lists showing total eligible pensioners of 64,001 and 51,915 respectively, a revised list was provided to us six weeks after commencement of the audit (September 30, 2015). That list contained 46,976 pensioners,” the auditors pointed out.

The auditors are of the opinion that the department responsible for maintaining the database is not capable of compiling an accurate list of eligible pensioners on a real-time basis.

The MHS was also unable to provide the auditors with 280 applications for pension.

The Old Age Pension in Guyana came into effect through the passing of the Old Age Pensions Act, # 17 of 1944, which sets out the statutory criteria for the payment of Old Age Pension, administered by the Ministry of Social Protection.

The Act stipulates that beneficiaries must be Guyanese, and must have attained the age of 65 in order to qualify for the pension.