Senator wants vendors captured in social security net

Independent Senator Julian Hunte wants more focus on vendors embracing e-commerce and paying contributions into the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

Speaking in the Upper Chamber today in support of the National Vending Bill, 2021, Hunte contended that this would augur well for the advancement of the sector traditionally referred to as the informal economy.

Drawing a reference to other parts of the world, the senator recalled witnessing vendors facilitating payment of their wares through electronic systems. He said that in addition to reducing the chance of being targets for thieves, this cashless approach would also create a paper trail and establish them as bonafide business people.

“I would like to see as I have seen and experienced in parts of Africa, parts of Europe where you can go to a vendor and the vendor, equipped with some attachment on their phone, facilitates electronic payment. It makes them less of a target for being robbed. It sets up a record that the banks can see that here is a business person, here is some tangible evidence of their income. It puts the vendor in a position where they can access credit and be thinking on a scale larger than the scale which they most likely have been thinking on up to this point,” he explained.

In relation to planning for retirement, Senator Hunte stated that vendors ought to be encouraged to plan ahead by contributing into the NIS rather than in the evening of their lives having to be dependent solely on the state-owned fund, which is currently under significant strain.

“I would like to see efforts to incorporate them into mainstream commercial thought. And that is especially important I think because I do not like to see that people who have been vendors, they reach a certain age and then they have to depend on the munificence of government for a non-contributory pension. I don’t know frankly if there will be such a thing as a non-contributory pension in the future. . . . But I think that effort should be made to incorporate those who vend into the social security network.” (KC)