$1.5B owed… NIS to honour contributors’ claims after GuySuCo promises to pay
GuySuCo’s Chairman,
Dr. Rajendra Singh
National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has agreed to honor claims of sugar workers, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) announced yesterday.
The Corporation was responding to a report in Sunday’s edition of Kaieteur News which quoted worried officials as saying that around $1.5B is owed to NIS, and endangering workers’ claims.
According to GuySuCo in a statement, NIS yesterday instructed its local offices to honour all legitimate claims for benefits submitted by sugar workers.
GuySuCo assured that the sugar workers’ benefits could not be “endangered” because of the “non-remittance of NIS payments”.
The Corporation said that it met last Friday with the NIS Deputy General Manager, Operations, and submitted a payment schedule for all outstanding contributions.
As a result of GuySuCo’s “commitment” to honour the schedule for outstanding payments, NIS decided yesterday “to honour all workers’ claims”.
GuySuCo made it clear, yesterday, that not only is it the largest contributor to NIS, but it has sustained a close working relationship with that social insurance entity “.
At no time has any employee’s legitimate claim for benefits been endangered or jeopardized as a result of any late remittance of either employee or employer’s contribution”.
In recent weeks, GuySuCo’s workers have been claiming that NIS was not processing claims because of more than $1.5B that is owed.
For years now, cane cutters have been complaining of encountering problems with NIS contributions and GuySuCo.
In many cases, NIS receipts showed significant less amounts than what workers had in their possession, on the payslips. NIS has been moving to fully computerize records.
GuySuCo is facing a severe cash situation as costs remain high and production and prices continue to fall.
Government has continued to plug monies into the industry with little results, arguing that with over 16,000 workers, there are very little options. However, the Opposition has been demanding that GuySuCo table a realistic plan to turn the industry around.
Once the biggest foreign currency earners for Guyana, the sugar industry has slid, behind rice and gold.
Its largest and newest estate, Skeldon, a Chinese-built project that cost taxpayers US$200M, has continued to fail, last year taking on average 28 tonnes of cane to produce one tonne of sugar…more than double the industry average.
Additionally, GuySuCo is producing sugar at almost double of what it is selling for, sparking concerns from critics and other why Guyana continues to throw monies behind an industry that has little to show for the massive investments.