Post Office puts pensions on hold
Waiting for money from ministry
Stabroek News
May 6, 2003
The Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) has again been forced to suspend the payment of Old Age Pensions due to the non-receipt of adequate funds from the Ministry of Human Services.
Only last month the GPOC had encountered the same problem and as such hundreds of pensioners countrywide were made to wait for nearly two weeks before money was released by the Ministry of Finance. Pensioners across the country receive a monthly stipend of $1820.
The GPOC in a press release yesterday stated that the Post Office pays a substantial sum of money each month to pensioners and recipients of Public Assistance on behalf of the ministry. The release added that it is expected that the money would be sent to the Post Office late in any given month for payment during the next month. Old Age Pensions are payable from the first working day of each month. The release further notes that it was the practice of the post office to pay pensioners from their own resources, but this led to cash flow problems whenever the ministry sent its advance late.
It was reported to this newspaper that, on many occasions the ministry defaulted on reimbursing the Post Office on time.
The GPOC declared that while postmasters are moved to make payments out of compassion for the elderly, prudent financial management must be maintained. The corporation also emphasised that the suspension was unavoidable, but the situation would be remedied when funds were received from the ministry.
Contacted yesterday, Chief Social Worker, Orville Stuart said, "We are well aware of the Post Office's suspension, and with all fairness the corporation is doing business and if it meant that suspending payment due to the lack of funds is good for their business then so be it."
But he said he sympathised with the pensioners, who he said were mostly single parents and who depended solely on the stipend. "Yes, it is really hard for them to be turning up at various post offices only to be told that there is no money."
He acknowledged that some of these pensioners did not have telephones and as such they could not call before leaving home to find out if pensions were being paid.
"Right now the problem is not that there isn't sufficient money in the system, but the recoupment process at the Ministry of Finance has been a bit slow."
Last month an officer in the accounts department at the Human Services Ministry had offered the same explanation for the post office not receiving timely advances. Stuart said prior to this month the ministry had only employed one person to do the checking of the coupons, before they are sent to the Ministry of Finance. He said since this new development two other persons had been recruited to speed up the process.
With regards to this month's delay, Stuart said a number of vouchers were sent to the Ministry of Finance for processing but were returned with a number of queries. He said that in order for those vouchers to be cleared for payment the queries would have to be properly answered. Stabroek News understands that officers at the ministry are currently working on answering the queries and if everything works to plan, pensioners could receive payments sometime this week.
Stuart told this newspaper that one other factor that sometimes held up the process was the manner in which coupons from the hinterland regions were returned to the ministry. He said because of the distance the Post Office over the years had not been able to get the coupons in a timely manner.
At the beginning of each year pensioners are issued with a pension booklet containing 12 coupons. At the start of every month the pensioner would cash one of the vouchers at any post office. At the end of every month the Post Office sends those coupons to the Ministry of Human Services which examines them before sending them to the Ministry of Finance.
Last year a number of fraudulent booklets were discovered at 15 post offices across the country. This led to the dismissal of three social workers from the ministry and the interdiction of 13 postal officials. (Nigel Williams)
