In the past year, I have known about 10 Jamaicans who have served their country long and well in the public service, and who have encountered numerous problems getting their retirement benefits. And from comments from others who have encountered similar roadblocks in the past, this is nothing new.

All of these people have given 35 or more years of service to this country. All have done so with the deep sense of pride of having contributed to the deve-lopment of their nation in a meaningful way. And all are completely mystified as to why, after having completed their responsibilities, the Government is so tardy in ensuring that its responsibilities are completed in a timely manner. This problem exists in a number of government ministries and agencies and causes undue stress to people who should have been relaxing after doing their tour of duty.

Mind-boggling

It is mind-boggling to think that after working with the same ministry for more than 35 years, a government worker is told that vital documents necessary to process his retirement benefits cannot be found. These documents include simple things, like an NIS registration number, or worse yet, the date of employment. To add insult to injury, some employees of the offending agencies behave rudely to the aggrieved parties when they visit to get what is due to them.

Just last week, a teacher confided to me his frustration about getting his benefits, after shuttling back and forth from the regional office of the Ministry of Education to the one in Kingston. For all his efforts, he was told by ministry officials that they were not certain when his benefits would be paid.

It begs one to wonder what the ministry/agency officials were doing all along. Did they not know five years previously that John Brown was going to retire, and that they should begin the process of getting all his documents in order? Why punish a retiree when you should have been praising him for his contribution? Should the offending ministry or executive agency not then be obliged to pay interest on the benefits due to the retiree, as is required when the indivi-dual misses a payment date for his statutory contributions to Government?

Assessing agencies

I would like to suggest that in selecting ministries and agencies to provide the best service, one criterion should be determining how effectively these agencies cater to the needs of their internal publics, in this case, retirees. The points awarded for this requirement should be substantial, because if the agency is unable to adequately cater to the needs of its internal publics, then it is hardly likely that it would do any better with its external publics.

In the meantime, urgent action is needed by managers/supervisors in the offending agencies to right this terrible wrong. Such action does not require legislation, only the will to ensure that it works, supported by strong punitive measures against employees who consistently fail to carry out their responsibilities. This would make life much easier for scores of our citizens.

I am, etc.,

BASIL STEWART

basilstewart24@yahoo.com