Dear Editor,
In my view, the PPP can win by a landslide if they fix two issues poor people care about: fix the NIS contributions problems and double the minimum wage before election day. Such a win seems possible given the disarray in the Opposition and the cluelessness of potential challengers.
One issue in the election is the poverty issue and who cares more for poor people. I heard the VP say the PPP cares more. Reports say we have 40% of the people living below the poverty level. These include security guards; retail workers in stores, restaurants, and grocery stores; labourers; farm workers; sugar workers; small market vendors; street sellers; domestics; some self-employed; fishermen; and even lower-tiered Government Ministries workers and teachers making close to a pittance of $100,000 a month. We can’t sweep these people under the carpet as if poverty is not a real problem. It is true that the Ali administration has accomplished the most of any Government in our history, but it must follow up with making the most dramatic improvements in matters that will help poor people. Double the minimum wage and solve the problem of NIS having mostly inaccurate records for many older workers being denied pensions. This is the pathway to a landslide victory!
The plan revealed by the president to give a one-time grant pay-out is a solution that is not a solution, as prominent civil society advocate and attorney Christopher Ram has indicated (see “The NIS Cash Grant: A solution for a solution that is not a solution”, SN, June 15, 2025). That plan is not a solution because it does not address the root cause problem of how to fix the debacle of NIS failing in its statutory duty to resolve problems where NIS records are incomplete, wrong, and vexatious to workers who have paid into the system. For instance, NIS is missing 5 years for me, and two of the years in the statement they gave me have an incorrect number of contributions. So, if we go by the NIS record, I have 350 contributions and will not qualify for a pay-out under the president’s formula. However, if my contribution record is corrected, I will have 600+ contributions and will be eligible for the $500,000 pay-out. So, unless the Government first fixes how to handle the problem of contributions being incorrect, the plan announced is what I call a “robbery plan” of poor people. Sadly, none of the parties or wannabe parties is focusing on this poor people’s issue. The people most affected and being robbed by the NIS are poor, rural workers who are traditional supporters of the PPP.
Mr Ram and others have offered a way out of the NIS impasse, but so far, the Government is not listening. Mr President, give a pro-rated pension for those with 740 or more contributions, as a start, who are claiming that their NIS records are inaccurate, and consider those with 500 and above for a partial pension. Please ignore those giving you bad advice and do the right thing. There is enough money to make this fix in the $10 billion set aside for NIS. A landslide awaits!
Yours sincerely,
Dr Jerry Jailall
