Edmond Campbell, Senior News CoordinatorAT LEAST one Government senator has scoffed at the Opposition's threat to test the legality of using the National Insurance Fund (NIF) for other purposes, while two of his colleagues are calling for dialogue to end the stand-off on the mounting controversy.
Earlier this week Opposition Leader Bruce Golding said his party would take the matter as far as the Supreme Court if the Government proceeds with plans to use the NIF for on-lending of $1 billion to the micro and small business sectors.
Senator Floyd Morris, State Minister for Labour and Social Security, yesterday invited the Opposition to engage the Government in dialogue on the matter, a proposal supported by A.J. Nicholson, the leader of Government Business in the Senate.
CAMPBELL'S CHALLENGE
However, prior to the Government senators' appeal for talks on the issue during yesterday's sitting of the Upper House, Information Minister Colin Campbell, who returned to a seat in the Senate recently, challenged the Opposition to take the matter to court, arguing that he was confident the Supreme Court would affirm that the move was legal.
"We await the deposit in the Supreme Court of the various threats of legal action because I am sure that not only the court of public opinion but the Supreme Court will come out on the side of legality and prudence," Senator Campbell said.
Opposition Senator Dr. Christopher Tufton, while debating the Appropriations Bill, said his party had submitted an alternative approach which the Government should consider.
"Look at those Government entities that are viable and profitable and exchange assets for liquidity which the pension funds currently have," Dr. Tufton said.
REDISTRIBUTION,
NOT WEALTH CREATION
According to him, some $20 billion in pension money is now invested in Government paper. He said the $1 billion liquidity could be exchanged for something that could bring a return to the pensioners that would enhance their well-being. "You cannot have a situation where you take from one set of poor to give to another set of poor, that is redistribution, not wealth creation," he added.
But the Senator Morris said the Government had approached institutions, with a track record of excellence, to on-lend the funds to the small and micro business sectors on behalf of the NIF. "We are putting in place the mechanism to ensure that the funds are properly protected and invested," he said.
He said beneficiaries of the loans would have to become contributors to the National Insurance Scheme, along with their employees, thereby swelling the pool of funds to the NIF.
