Barbadians want greater oversight into the affairs of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) along with less political interference in its operations.
This was the view expressed by some citizens who attended Thursday’s NIS Town Hall Meeting at the Princess Margaret School in St Philip.
Barbadian Anthony Barrow took to the floor and expressed his concern at the way current and previous governments used the scheme’s savings for capital projects and other ventures which ran counter to the purpose of the scheme.
He suggested that tighter control mechanisms should be implemented going forward.
“How much power and control do you have if a Minister of Finance, if a government decides, ‘I want this amount of money from here’… It might be good for them at the time, but down the road you are depleting a fund which is really the people’s money.
“So I believe that controls need to be put in place for a fund like this that a politician cannot just wake up one morning and decide that we need some money to carry out a project, and this is where we need to turn,” he said
Deputy Chairman of the scheme, Rawdon Adams, however quickly responded and stressed that the troubles NIS were currently facing had nothing to do with interference, but rather a depleted workforce and in turn, contributors.
“The fund has returned a steady six per cent on average since inception, but this growing difference between retirees and the benefits that they are paid, and the financing by the working population is what is pulling the fund down.”
Meanwhile, NIS actuary Derek Osborne admitted that despite the important support the scheme has delivered over the years in assisting Barbadians during their period of retirement or unemployment, the 55-year-old fund was somewhat outdated, particularly in areas such as disability support for those persons who though not capable of working the typical 40-hour week, are still able to contribute to the island’s workforce.
“For example we had a gentleman last night, partially disabled, he has a speech issue but he looks physically fine and he wants to work. He has been deemed as an invalid because of his disability, and so he gets benefits from NIS every single month.
Derek Osborne
“If he went to work part time and NIS found out, they would cut him off totally from the benefit. So I think in today’s age he should be able to get something from NIS because he can’t make full earnings as he regularly would have, but encourage him to go to work.
“He pays contributions, he leaves home every day and does something productive, he is a better part of his family. So reduced NIS costs, increased contributions, and he is happy working during the day.”
He added that a paternity leave provision has been considered at the highest levels, which will add another area of support for Barbadians.
“The Ministry of Labour who also has responsibility over the national insurance is seriously considering a paternity leave provision for the Labour Act, which in turn would trigger a paternity benefit for National Insurance. That is also on the table.
“It would be employers mandated to give leave to fathers, and if that comes into being, then NIS would have a similar paternity benefit to what we have for maternity, to provide that benefit. The idea is, not all of the options have to be negative, some options could be an addition.
“As we said earlier, [as a] 55-year-old system, some things don’t work well today,” he said.
(SB)
