Opposition Leader, Dr. Godwin Friday says the National Insurance Services (NIS) is in danger and the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines cannot be trusted with Pensioners money.
In his response to the 2024 budget, (January 9, 2024), Dr. Friday called on the Government to be more accountable, responsible and transparent with funds injected in the National Insurances Services (NIS).
“The Minister repeated yesterday, that the NIS is projected to run out of money to meet its obligation between 2024, 2034 and 2035. The Minister said the reforms are coming and he outlined them yesterday, but they took so long to bring those reforms madam speaker and in this matter time is of the essence. It makes the matter worse. The Government in fact, put politics ahead of the interest of NIS pensioners and has failed to take timely and prudent measures to fix the problem,” said Dr. Friday.
“Madam Speaker, the crisis at the NIS it jeopardizes pensions for so many people. Most of them, 85% of them don’t have any other source of income. That has implications for the wider economy, because those persons are persons who were employed before and now in their retirement, that money comes to keep spending in the economy going. If the NIS fails – that fails,” the Opposition Leader said.
“Given Madam Speaker, the situation that I’ve outline with the NIS, can we trust this Government to restore and sustain the NIS?” Given the poor record and the failure to act repeatedly, can they be trusted with pensioner’s money?”. “My conclusion madam speaker is that they cannot,” lamented Dr. Friday.
“I believe that they will continue to have, as they have over the years in treating the NIS, in a way madam speaker that brought us to the crisis situation that we are here now. Madam Speaker, the current situation with the NIS, sums up everything that is wrong with this Government. The Government has failed to create jobs that have failed to create a revenue base for the NIS. They have failed to create wages, to increase the revenue base at the NIS, and they have failed to implement tough measures needed to ensure its sustainability,” said Dr. Friday.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Minister of Finance, Camillo Gonsalves said it is the duty and responsibility of the Government to ensure that national social security systems remain healthy and sustainable. It is these systems that help to ensure that workers’ retirement years are comfortable, and it is these systems that help workers to withstand various shocks during their productive years and beyond.
