Overseas-based Guyanese to be disqualified from Old Age Pension – Lawrence

Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence has stated that she will be eliminating instances of persons receiving pensions from Guyana if they are found to be living in other countries.

The subject Minister described the situation as “double dipping” when persons not living in Guyana are able to receive pension from the Guyanese Government, as well as the foreign country in which they live.
“We will be putting an end to persons who are ‘double dipping’… we have persons who believe that it is their right to live in a foreign country and collect their pensions here… we are saying no, it is not going to happen,” Minister Lawrence was quoted as saying to the Government Information Agency (GINA) in a recent interview.
Lawrence said that she got wind of the issue when it was related to her by the staff of her Ministry. She reportedly warned the staff that they will be held responsible, and “surcharged” if pension books were issued with the staff knowing that the persons were not living in Guyana.
Minster Lawrence also noted cases where individuals are drawing pension receipts multiple times in different regions using different names. “In the hinterland regions, we know there are persons with more than one identification card who draw (collect) pension under one name in one region then travel to the next and draw under the other name,” she explained.
In order to effectively curb the reported deficiencies in the system and make if more efficient, the Social Protection Ministry will be digitising the pension system.
According to the Minister, digitising the system will also make it more efficient in identifying redundancies, “in addition to indicating to the Ministry persons who are authorising others to collect their pensions, which is an indication that they are not in Guyana.”
It was further noted that digitising of the pension database will also see greater accountability within the pension system, while probation officers will have more time to do additional field work and conduct visitations.
The Social Protection Minister also posited that the issue of double dipping is not limited to accessing pension, but also public assistance for school aged children. She explained that some students are beneficiaries of public assistance in Guyana, but they also benefit from similar assistance in neighbouring Brazil.
Minister Lawrence said that the “To address this, guardians will have to submit an attendance report for the child so that they can continue accessing such assistance.”
According to the Government Information Agency, the Social Protection Ministry is expected to engage the Public Telecommunications Ministry to ensure that the two agencies can collectively run a pilot of this electronic project.
Based on information received, persons desirous of accessing Old Age Pension will have to be living in Guyana for a minimum of two years.