SOME Guyanese have welcomed the move by the Government of Guyana for the National Insurance Scheme (NIS)’s and old-age pensions to be paid on the first business day of every month.
Vivette Bunbury, 69, during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, said this initiative will be of much convenience to citizens like herself.

She said: “For me, it’s convenient, because now I don’t have to wait till month-end to collect both my NIS and pension.”

Earlier this week, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, in keeping with an announcement made by President Dr. Irfaan Ali on June 21, instructed that with effect from July 2023, NIS pension payments will be paid from the first working day of every month to align with old-age pension payments. Previously, NIS pension payments were made from the first Monday of every month.

This, Dr. Singh said, is part of the government’s broader agenda to improve, modernise and streamline its service-delivery to citizens.

Other measures taken thus far by the administration have been the NIS Online Contribution Checking System (OCCS), which is expected to reduce the incidence of inaccuracies, the WhatsApp life certificate hotline, WhatsApp Queries Textbook Service and NIS Live Chat.

NIS payments are paid via the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), commercial banks, and at NIS local offices, countrywide, and other payment options are currently being considered by the government.

Recently, the government expanded the payment options for old-age pensions to include Mobile Money Guyana (MMG). This adds to the existing options of the GPOC, MoneyGram, Western Union, Sure Pay and commercial banks.

A priority of the government when it assumed office in 2020 was to address the complaints received from contributors to the NIS, with pending claims at the time amounting to 14,000 as at November 2020.

In support of this effort, the government undertook a series of nationwide outreach sessions that took the services of the NIS to the citizens. Persons across the country, many of whom are now in receipt of old-age pension after waiting for a number of years, have benefitted from these sessions. Of the 14,000 pending claims inherited in 2020, over 12,000 have been addressed.