Opposition not satisfied with Finance Minister's NIS assurances

IN spite of Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s assurance the National Insurance System has $28 billion and is estimated to last for another 22 years even if nothing is done to it, the Opposition wants further assurances benefits are safe and the assets will not be sold.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the loss of 112,000 employees from the system since the People’s National Movement (PNM) came to power in 2015 has led to a decrease in contributions, affecting the sustainability of the fund.

“I am told they are already selling (NIB assets) because they have drawn the fund down so badly, that the NIB funds we have to pay out exceed what they are receiving,” Persad-Bissessar charged.

“So your pensions jumping up. Your injury benefits, your maternity benefits, all those things you could get under the NIS scheme from the NIB, all that is jumping up, and they have given us no plan how they are going to increase that fund to help citizens.”

From the United National Congress (UNC) virtual platform on Monday night she said any attempt to sell the assets will result in a “fire sale.”

“You know what that would mean – a big fire sale, sell it to friends and families at the lowest cost, and again, our citizens will suffer.”

She said while the information coming from the NIB report, which she said had to be triggered by a court order and which Imbert was trying to hide, shows that as of June 2020, some 112,00 people lost their jobs since 2015, but that was not a true reflection of the present unemployment figure.

“You know that it is going to be more than that from June 2020-June 2021. The NIB does not deal with people who are self-employed, neither do they deal with people who are not on the registry for NIB.

“At this point, the NIB is insolvent, thanks to Rowley and his government. The NIB Fund has been pushed to the point of insolvency because of the decline in contributions from these over 112,000 persons.

“The Government must be honest and they must tell us if pensions are in trouble.”

She said the rumours of extending the pension age from 60 to 65 or even as high as 70 are extremely worrying and require Government to reveal plans for the efficient management of the fund.

She said the grim facts are contained in the NIB report and defended the right of her party to go to the court to get redress.

“Since the last budget, I have been calling on the Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, to present the NIB reports for 2019 and 2020 to the Parliament, yet he continued to ignore our calls.

“It was only when he was challenged in court, and the court ruled and gave us leave for judicial review in view of his failure and/or neglect and delay in laying the report, he came (and laid the report in Parliament.

“You know Faris (Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi) always saying, 'UNC going to court.' Well, some days that’s the only thing we can do. We can talk, we can send letters, we can send Freedom of Information application and can call on Government. But they will not act until threatened in the courthouse.”

She said the court ruling forced Imbert to lay the reports in the Parliament but in his haste to do so, one important report which contains important financial information was incomplete.

She promised, “The court matter on this will continue.”