47, 000 pensioners further impoverished by Govt
– removal of electricity, water subsidies wipes out pension “increase”
BY DEVINA SAMAROO, October 25, 2015 By , Source
The suffering and desperation of over 47,000 mostly impoverished senior citizens have grown exponentially over the past few months, following the removal of the telephone, water and electricity subsidies by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
The new coalition Administration had ostentatiously boasted of providing a massive 30 per cent pension increase to the elderly but instead, while the increase amounted to $4000, the resulting $17,000 was hardly sufficient to remove the pensioners from below the poverty line. But in what has been adjudged as a ‘cruel twist”, the Government completely removed the utility subsidies for pensioners which was put in place by the previous Government and served as a great relief to the elderly citizens of the country, most of whom are retired and have no means of earning an income. The funds needed to pay for electricity, water and telephones far exceeded the $4000 “increase”.
Guyana Times spoke to several pensioners drawn from all social groups who reside in different areas of the country and they all reported that life has indeed gotten tougher for them under the new Government.
While some persons have their families to assist them with their expenses, the majority do not. Some persons were forced to find jobs just to earn a little extra income to sustain their livelihoods. A handful were forced to adjust their lifestyles to a lesser comfortable one while others are at a complete loss as to how they will continue living.
“I am now scraping for money to meet my bills; I have to burden my daughter, who already don’t earn enough for herself and her children. I trying to cut back on some stuff but how much you could cut back on? I gah hurt me head over all this. Is too much stress. Nah best I dead and gone,” expressed Tessa McKenzie, a 70-year-old woman who was at the time on her way to the Bourda Post Office, Georgetown.
McKenzie said she was grateful for the additional money added to the pension however; she simply could not comprehend the rationale behind removing the subsidies. “I don’t get it. What sense it make really, eh?” she noted. While she could not give precise figures, the woman who lives by herself in Kitty, Georgetown, noted that the subsidies which were previously offered definitely lessened her financial burdens.
“I never had to worry about the light bills and the water bills. When the month come, it was just a $2000 for the light bill and like a $4000 for the water bill. Cause it’s me alone and how much one old lady gonna use up? So the pension I used to get was good cause at least I had left over to buy my lil groceries. Now, it’s like all my pension going behind the bills,” McKenzie stated.
This is the prevailing situation for hundreds of pensioners across the country.
Another Georgetown resident, Robert Gibson, 68 years old, said he was forced to take a job as a security officer at a private residence just so he can earn a “little extra” income. “I am retired, now is supposed to be a time for me to sit back and not stress about anything. But the money we are getting is not working out. The other day, my friend told me that this man looking for a guard for his house so I decide to take the work because I need the money,” Gibson stated. The man said he lives with his wife, who is also a pensioner, but the money they receive altogether is not sufficient enough for them to live comfortably.
Along the East Bank Demerara corridor, pensioners are also crying out over what they deemed as a stressful situation. “The stress I taking on now might just kill me,” one lady lightheartedly stated.
Carl Lopez, who resides in Diamond New Housing Scheme, said the pension he is receiving is not enough to cover his utility bills, purchase his groceries and meet his hospital fees or to buy his monthly supplies of medication.
“The bills coming at $10,000 now, that’s for light bill. I can’t remember the other bills but, I know for sure that when we had the subsidies, it wasn’t so much. Probably just a $3000 I used to pay. Now, that aside, I have to buy the groceries, well my son does help me with groceries but you know it get a lot of people who don’t have anybody to help them. A lot, I’m telling you. We suffering now… my hospital fees come up to about $10,000. I am only getting $17,000 as pension. Plus I have to buy the medication,” he noted.
Asked how he has managed to meet his expenses thus far, Lopez said he had to limit his purchase on his medication. “I’m still working out how I’ll manage the rest,” he related.
On the East Coast of Demerera, pensioner Irma (only name given), was highly annoyed and extremely frustrated over the situation. “They add on $4000 and then they say ‘Yay! We giving them the good life’. But all they do is give us $4000 and they took away $34,000,” the woman vented.
She noted that she used to save approximately $38,000 altogether on her monthly bills. “Now where they expect me to find the money to pay my bills. If I use my pension money and the $4000 extra they give we, how I gonna eat?” Irma expressed.
“I have to now depend on my children and I don’t want to do that. They have their own expenses too. Now what about those people who don’t have children to fall back on? There are a lot of people like that. You go and look around, you will hear people crying out. The situation needs to be fixed. Put back the subsidies or raise the pension higher,” she stated.