FINANCE Minister, Dr Ashni Singh has called on the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to put its shoulder to the wheel and dispose of the huge backlog of contributors with the greatest of urgency.The matter is currently before the NIS Board, Dr Singh noted, and he is aware of the frequent lament of contributors, many of whom say NIS could not locate all their contributions.

In recent years, many of the complainants have been retired workers in the sugar industry.
Many have said they worked with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) for more than 15 years, and would have made more than the mandatory 755 contributions to qualify for full pension.
Retired sugar worker Lakesh Persaud, who hails from Port Mourant, Region 6, had told one section of the media that he worked with GuySuCo for more than 15 years.
But, he said, the NIS branch in New Amsterdam said it has no record on him, even though he produced a pay slip.
Persaud is one of hundreds of workers, not only in the sugar industry, with similar complaints. Given the consistency of the complaints, Region Six Chairman David Armogan said he has set up a special desk at his office to handle these matters.
The Regional Chairman’s intervention has brought some relief to the retired workers, though not all of them.
The Chairman said he tries his best, but emphasised that the scheme has to get its house in order, since even a minor error takes a ridiculously long time to be rectified.
Important obligation
Dr Singh said NIS has an important obligation in posting all contributions received to contributors’ record.
“Everybody’s statement should be up-to-date and should include all of their contributions,” he said, noting that if the records are not processed in a timely manner, issues will arise.
“Employers come and go, businesses come and go, an employer might exist for 10 years and then they close up operations… a man who has been working for 35 years, chances are, he was working with a company, someone who started the scheme in 1969, chances are the employer that he was working with in 1969, does not exist any longer, you cannot find the employer or you cannot find the employer’s records. In those days systems were not computerised and so it is a nightmarish task to resolve this matter.”
The Finance Minister said too that on more than one occasion, he was approached by members of the public who complained about missing claims.
He urged the Scheme to spare no effort in fixing this problem.
This situation, he said, is disheartening, and where deductions were made from workers’ contributions and paid over to NIS, the contributors are legitimately entitled to concomitant benefits.
EMPLOYERS PAYING CONTRIBUTIONS
In October last year, NIS was criticised in various sections of the media following reports that only 6,100, out of 27,000 employers, were paying contributions to the Scheme on behalf of their employees.
The NIS main office is in Brickdam, Georgetown, but the Scheme has 13 branches at strategic locations across Guyana, providing social security to more than 45,000 pensioners.

By Tajeram Mohabir