It is time the NIS Board make public the reform report

Dear Editor,
Even as we bemoan and strategize saving policyholders’ investments in CLICO, we cannot ignore a similar urgency for NIS.
Apart from the fact NIS has invested billions of dollars in CLICO -which the government wants to assure us is secured in spite of CLICO’s fiasco – over the years non-compliance has had crippling effects on the NIS.
NIS is the country’s largest socio-economic safety net. Its services contribute to the country’s economic, social and political development/stability, through the provision of payment to contributors and their dependants.
As this safety net functions, workers, employers and government are assured that the economic security provided from the inability to work or death serves to the well-being of the family, workforce and society as a whole.
Securing NIS can be realised now were we to acknowledge a couple of truths. First, it requires a shift in the political philosophy of the policy makers. Historically, NIS has been used as a political wedge and this thinking remains as evident in the constitution of the Board, the Board’s decisions, and major non-complainants. Contrary to propaganda, NIS was never a Burnham Scheme established to punish people. It is a Scheme designed to guarantee financial support in the time of need. So far the Scheme has done an outstanding job.
Second, NIS is a legally constituted body with clear guidelines on employment categories, financial responsibilities and compliance adherence. Yet, among NIS major defaulters are government ministers, parliamentarians, lawyers, and friends of politicians. Given this reality, NIS cannot succeed only by encouraging eligible contributors to obey the law; the defaulters too have to comply and become prominent examples/advocates; the magistrates/judges presiding over defaulters’ cases have to forego fraternity relationship and let the Lady of Justice remain blind.
Some time back it was proposed that the Scheme extends the pensionable age from 60 to 65 years. Even as NIS relies on contributions for its relevance, this reliance had never been independent of compassion. For NIS, the principles of money and compassion are twinned, and have informed its establishment and development thus far. It is not one or the other; it is both. The pensionable age cannot be extended to 65 in isolation of the compassionate threat to those, who through no fault of theirs, will be without income for the next five years. Extending the pensionable age can only be justified if the government extends the retirement age to 65, or provide comparative income in the interim, via the Treasury, to those affected.
NIS is a public entity, owned by the contributors. It is time the NIS Board make public the reform report so that the Scheme’s owners can have insight into information/decisions that will impact on their lives.
M. A. Bacchus