Residents call for checks on NIS investments and penalties

Frustrated with the state of the country’s fragile social security system, Barbadians are demanding tighter scrutiny over investments made by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), and stiffer penalties for employers and self-employed persons who fail to honour their commitments.

This was the consensus Monday evening at a town hall meeting at the Combermere School where the NIS’ top brass took suggestions from the general public as the organisation faces a potential crisis.

“I think that what we have to do now is to try to encourage people, without threatening them, to file and pay National Insurance, whether they are self-employed or employees,” Jane Goddard declared.

“I am happy that I have done my duty and my responsibility for 46 years and, please God, when I reach 67, there will be money inside there for me to get my pension because I’ve worked my tail off for 46 years,” she added.

Of particular concern to Goddard is the extended period for which audited statements from the NIS have not been made public.

“We need to know what the position is. I heard the Auditor General say that National Insurance is paying dead people. I believe that if there is an audit and things are put into perspective, we would be able to move forward from a better position,” she added.

Cassandra Bowen, meanwhile, arrived at the event with a long list of recommendations that included demanding that someone be held responsible for the absence of publicly available audited reports.

“At this point, I feel that legislation should be put in place that no more money should be borrowed from NIS for the next 12-15 years unless it is for investment purposes,” she suggested.

The outspoken Barbadian further called for laws to penalise employers who collect NIS contributions and fail to pay them in.

“It is done for land tax and it is done with VAT [Value Added Tax] and I feel it should be done here and policed. Nothing should be allowed to go down through the cracks. Employees who decide they want to pay their NIS themselves should be locked into a system to ensure that they can do so,” said Bowen.

“We have the technology, the Prime Minister assured us that we have the technology and I am sure it should be done,” she added.

Another woman addressed what, in her opinion, has been excessive borrowing by successive governments from the NIS.

“We cannot be putting money into a fund and every time the government has an issue they dip into the fund, because at the end of the day, when you dip into the fund you are dipping money from the citizens,” said the town hall participant.

“We didn’t tell you that you could dip, no one asked us if you could dip, but now you are here asking us for solutions to a problem that you guys created. We didn’t create this problem. We are law-abiding citizens who contributed faithfully to a scheme thinking that when we get 67 we would be assured a pension. It is not fair.”

At a recent press conference, Prime Minister Mia Mottley cited actuarial reports suggesting that the National Insurance Fund could be depleted in as little as 12 years.

On the panel at Monday evening’s town hall meeting were NIS Chairman Leslie Haynes Q.C, Deputy Chairman Rawdon Adams, Director Kim Tudor, and actuary Derek Osborne.

Throughout the meeting, Osborne repeatedly reiterated that although there is room for improvement in the management of the fund, the nature of the crisis surrounds the structure of the fund along with the nation’s rapidly changing social and economic demographics.

In response to concerns voiced by some attendees about previous NIS investments, Osborne underscored the need for current and future boards to be resolute in their commitment to good governance of the institution.

“If a board is resolute that we are not investing anymore in the Government, a phone call can’t change that unless there is a directive from the minister in writing,” he said.

Tudor, meanwhile, assured Barbadians that extensive work is being done in collaboration with the Auditor General to tighten transparency in relation to the management of the six separate funds under the NIS’ remit.

“The Auditor General is working with us to develop and implement a framework that will satisfy internationally-accepted accounting standards and also provide what we call supporting schedules that can be validated. So, the financial statements are prepared and for the smaller funds, they have been audited up to 2015/2016,” said Tudor.

“So don’t feel that we don’t do financial statements each month which go to the board. They are done, they are prepared, it’s just we are working with an auditor to get a framework that is acceptable that can see those financial statements certified and once they are certified, they are laid in Parliament.” (TD)