While the distribution of Old Age Pension books started in Berbice but at a slow pace yesterday, confusion erupted in Linden and many pensioners were turned away, but the situation will improve according to a source close to the ministry.

The source said that ever since the introduction of the new system for paying Old Age Pension was inaugurated last week, the process has been mired with irregularities and confusion in Linden. He said many pensioners were forced to return home yesterday because of the inclement weather and at some centres there were reports of the officer having limited books. "However we have taken all those things into consideration and steps will be taken immediately to remedy the situation."

The source indicated that some of the pensioners in Linden had made several complaints of officers' attitudes and the length of time they have to wait until they are being attended to.

At Berbice, Stabroek News Berbice correspondent, Daniel Dacosta informed that only one centre was in operation yesterday, in spite of the minister's promise to step up the distribution process in the area because of the late start. Many of the pensioners were forced to return to their homes empty handed.

Dacosta said that the centre which was in operation at the New Amsterdam Town Hall had two stairs and because many of the pensioners were ailing and arthritic they found it very difficult to mount the stairs. According to him, with only two social workers attached to Berbice, the process would take over four months if the whole of Berbice was going to be served.

He said that many of the pensioners weren't aware of the distribution because the process was first suspended when the books were inadvertently left in Georgetown.

Minister in the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Bibi Shadick, had said last week that the distribution process was slated to end in the next six weeks. In Georgetown the situation was very calm and many of the centres in operation were functioning quite admirably, except for the one at the Night Shelter which had a very large crowd at hand.

On the East Coast two centres were in operation one at Buxton Community Centre and another at Enmore Community Centre. Both of these centres had large crowds, but the officers there suspended operations because of inadequate booklets. One pensioner opined that the officers were deliberately reporting with a certain number of booklets and when those were distributed they would close off.

During last week some of the officers complained that the writing up of the booklets was very tedious and as such they are only able to complete 50 books per day. Yesterday both Buxton and Enmore reportedly distributed some 65 books. On the East Bank at Mocha Arcadia Community Centre there was order as well as at Agricola Community Centre and at Grove Village Office.

Meanwhile, yesterday some of the officers complained that they had not yet received their January salaries. According to a source, the ministry was almost at the brink of becoming a self accounting unit but because of the allegations of fraud this had been cancelled. The source said the ministry had to make a last minute run to the Ministry of Finance to uplift all of the necessary documents so that salaries could be paid and this was likely to be done today.

Meanwhile, former permanent secretary in the ministry, Roopnarine Khadoo, in a letter to this newspaper indicated that he had been following the situation with the distribution of Old Age Pension booklets.

He said no one has ever disputed the fact there were quirks in the system of paying Old Age Pension and Public Assistance, but several methods were experimented with resulting in the system that was last in place at the Post Office. According to him, with over 40,000 pensioners and beneficiaries on record it is not strange that there is room for both mistakes and malpractices.

"This is especially true in a situation such as ours where there is practically no technology with electronic databases, where there are serious staffing difficulties and also where people are easily tempted into malpractices because of the poor economic situation."

Khadoo said even though he had been eager to clear up corrupt malpractices, the reality was that it was a slow process and whatever was implemented had to take into consideration the well being of the pensioners and the needy and the new system did not.

In a Government Information Agency press release, the ministry announced that over 15,000 booklets had been uplifted so far by social workers for distribution and that about two thirds of the amount was already distributed.

According to GINA, Director of Social Services, Dr Shyam Sundar Nauth Doodnauth, said that this figure represented about 40 per cent of the books printed. He said the ministry printed 40,000 books, the same number that was usually done. According to him, the ministry was trying to ascertain from this exercise, the number of pensioners countrywide for its database computation.