Scores of pensioners flock Post Offices despite warning

…Ramsammy dubs situation as “criminal”

Despite stern warnings for senior citizens to avoid visiting post offices during the coronavirus threat, hundreds of pensioners were on Wednesday seen flocking various postal locations countrywide.

The elderly folks were waiting in long queues to uplift their pension payments, even though the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) had advised that pensioners should authorise a younger family member to collect same on their behalf.
Moreover, pensioners were urged to refrain from visiting the post offices to uplift their monies during the first days of the month, since vouchers would be available later on.
The advisory was issued in light of the coronavirus disease, of which elderly folks are more vulnerable.
Guyana has already recorded three coronavirus deaths; two of the fatalities were persons aged 52 and 78.

As such, GPOC implemented a variety of procedures, including social distancing measures (whereby persons are required to stand three feet apart in lines) as well as the sanitising of hands before and after transactions.
However, this publication observed that, in some instances, these measures were not enforced.
At some post offices, scores of senior citizens were seen in lines with little to no space between them.
In a statement to the media on the situation, the GPOC confirmed that there were hiccups at the Bourda Post Office as well as GPOC’s Head Office.
While payments got off to a smooth start, the large turnout of senior citizens resulted in the need for the funds to be replenished during morning hours.
This created a lull in the payments.
After about an hour, with the assistance of Police ranks to maintain a safe distance between the pensioners, the situation was rectified and the smooth flow of payments resumed.
Nonetheless, at the Head Office, senior citizens were seen breaking the lines and refusing to heed the security officers in maintaining appropriate social distances. This resulted in a delay in the opening of the office.
According to the GPOC, of the 64 locations across the country, it experiences hurdles at only two locations.

Criminal
Meanwhile, former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy – a pensioner himself – weighed in on the situation, labelling it as “criminal”.
According to the health expert, alternative methods for the collection of pensions should have been put in place. In fact, he noted that this was done when Guyana had to protect itself from other global public health threats, like SARS.
“…the very minimum I would have expected is that those responsible would have developed a method to get people their old-age pension without seniors leaving home. It is totally criminal that these poor people had to make long lines, waiting for hours with COVID-19 rampaging through our country like it is in other countries around the world,” Ramsammy contended.
“I repeat that it is criminal that our pensioners have had their lives endangered because the Ministry of Social Protection was too busy to figure out how to safely distribute old-age pension. Those responsible have demonstrated recklessness, and we must not allow them to escape the consequences,” he added.
Dr Ramsammy reasoned that the $20,000 per month old-age pension is of great importance to more than 50,000 families in Guyana, and therefore it is not shocking that people risked their lives to collect the money.
But according to the former health minister, the onus was upon the authorities in Government to ensure that the country’s senior citizens were not exposed to the coronavirus threat.
Ramsammy accused caretaker President David Granger of continuing to demonstrate total dishonesty, indecency, and lack of integrity as he holds on to power while his party finds every reason to avoid a proper tabulation of the results of the March 2, 2020 elections. He noted that this action by the APNU/AFC administration continues to endanger people’s lives.

“The treatment extended to pensioners is the most disgraceful consequence of a government only interested in power and having no regards for people’s lives. The very least I would have expected from the 75-year-old David Granger is an insistence that old-age pension payments are taken to the pensioners, and not pensioners having to come to get their payments,” Ramsammy noted.
The former Parliamentarian noted that he recently received a request from someone on the East Bank Demerara for help to purchase groceries to feed their family. He said the Government should be addressing this, but instead they are out there “rigging elections”.
“People are not working, as the combination of a rigged election and COVID-19 takes its toll. Many of these people are paycheck-to-paycheck people. Without a paycheck, there are real hardships at the moment. When will David Granger gets his act together? Rather than wasting money with expensive Caribbean lawyers trying to avoid the real results of the elections, he needs to come up with a plan to help Guyanese families hurting and facing major difficulties feeding their families. A special assistance programme must be implemented now. Stop right now the criminal endangering of people’s lives. Do not increase the threat and risks elderly people face by forcing them to travel in public transportation and in making long lines for hours. Recognize there are children who are facing starvation because their parents are unable to feed them. Stop it now. Do something now. Do it fast,” Ramsammy urged.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and the Rotary Club donated sanitation supplies to the GPOC.