AFC bemoans low monthly stipend to pensioners

Aug 21, 2024 News

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– says with oil resources Govt can do more

Kaieteur News – In a country with an abundance of natural resources including oil, old age pensioners should not be receiving the meagre $36,000 per month being offered by the government. The Alliance For Change (AFC) is calling on the administration to increase the monthly stipend so that Guyana’s seniors can live better lives.

Speaking at a public meeting last Saturday in Linden, advisor to the Leader of the AFC on Indigenous Affairs, Laura George highlighted the need for an increase in the pension, citing the high cost of living and the earnings from oil, which would allow the government to do so. “The increases by percentage that they [Government] like to announce is to mislead us into believing that the percentage is a huge increase, it is not a huge increase,” George told Lindeners. Noting that the elderly should be treated with respect and dignity, she continued, “I have been calling on our people, the Indigenous people and this is where I am calling on all of Guyana, we must understand that our pensioners, our elders are the reasons why we are here…”

Meanwhile, Kaieteur News recently spoke with several pensioners about the impact that the high cost of living has had on their quality of life and the way they manage with the $36,000 pension.  Juliana Joseph, 81, a retired teacher related: “I think the cost of living is very high and think something must be done to reduce it….  I really feel that we could do with something more. For a person is depending on $36,000, (I) can’t survive on that, it cannot last a week.  The government needs to do some kind of price control so that price is not fixed on the fantasies of those market people to protect the vulnerable people. We are a country getting oil money and all sorts of things, therefore it should be evident with the people, we must benefit from that.”

Phillip Bourne, 76: “No, the pension is not enough for me, my problem is the food, food prices have increased but apart from food prices that have increased I can cope. I am not coping well but I am surviving…I eat three meals a day and I pay my bills. ”

Joy Couchman, 73, a former Ministry of Public Works employee: “It is very inadequate for me but I got to try by God’s grace because there is nothing I can do about it.  It is very small to me. I am solely dependent on the pension money. I have to pay rates and taxes some months; I pay and some months, I don’t because I have to eat, I have to buy toiletries for myself. I have to go to the hospital ….Right now, I don’t even have gas to cook and get something to eat. I got to go buy a bottle of gas and actually after buying that money done. I wish the government could raise the money more; it will be a little better for me.”

Anthony Clark, 74, retired policeman: “I find it a hard time with the money we are receiving now, because if you aren’t careful, if you go in the market and if you don’t write a list and go with that list and show yourself, you in trouble. All the years you’re working, them say you suppose to save for when old age meet, you can’t only depend on old age pension, but when you working you can’t even get to save nothing that why you end up in this predicament when you reach old age. I’m a retired police, cost of living is so high…and they need to give pensioners more benefit, because in all of our life as big people, you contributing to the country someway, somehow.”

Only recently President Irfaan Ali during a facebook live said his government has implemented deliberate initiatives and policies over the last four years to address the rise in food prices and cushion the cost-of-living here. He spoke about the rise in global food prices and the costs of transportation, goods and services resulted from the Russian-Ukraine war, and the global pandemic, among other disruptions. He noted too that in the European Union, food price inflation increased from the last quarter of 2021 to reach 3.5 per cent in January and 7.5 per cent in May 2022. In Latin America and the Caribbean, food price inflation surged steadily from January 2022 to 81.6 per cent by September 2023.

Food price inflation in the United States increased to 10.9 per cent in July 2022, the highest since 1980. “This is the global environment in which we are a part of and operating. When you look at our figures and the inflation rate for Guyana compared to all of these regions, it is remarkable in the way that we have been able to manage our economy…And the way we have been able to cushion these costs,” the president said. In 2023, Guyana’s food inflation rate was 3.8 per cent, 7.8 per cent in Jamaica and 81.67 per cent in the Latin American region. The low food inflation rate in Guyana is because of the deliberate investments and measures implemented by the government to boost food production by providing the necessary support to the poultry sector and farmers. “This is not by any accident. This is by the deliberate interventions of the government. This is by the policies and programmes in the budget that are buttressing the economy and creating an environment that leads to stability,” the head of state explained. The government he said, ‘implemented a slew of measures to further reduce food inflation such as the removal of value added tax (VAT) on fertilisers, agrochemicals, pesticides and several inputs in the poultry industry, at an annual estimated cost of $262 million’. “And this does not include the more than $1 billion that was spent in 2023 to provide agricultural implements to farmers.”, President Ali added.

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• cost-of-living, increase, Laura George, oil money, pension

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