NASSAU, The Bahamas –
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration the Hon. Fred Mitchell called
for man
datory pension legislation, outside of National Insurance,
to secure additional funds for retirees until such time as their death.
He was making contribution to the debate on The Employees
Pension Fund Protection Act, 2013, in the House of Assembly on Wednesday,
January 9, 2013.
The measure seeks to regulate the administration
of occupational pension schemes in the country; amongst other things.
Mr. Mitchell said that the Progressive Liberal Party
has made contributions to three parts of the country’s social safety
net.
The first being the National Insurance programme,
which exists and has served the Bahamian people well. The second was
the National Health Insurance, which was passed during the last PLP
Government and is awaiting regulations from the Ministry of Health for
it to take effect.
“Once those regulations are in place it will stop
something which happens egregiously; people who are falling afoul of
proper health care simply because they cannot afford it,” he said.
And thirdly, the most important contribution by this
administration is to develop mandatory pension legislation, another
safety net for pensioners.
“Perhaps this would be some kind of force savings
for people so that at the end of their careers they would have not only
National Insurance to depend upon, not only do they have their health
care taken of but they also have a liveable pension on which they can
depend,” he said.
“Much of this is predicated on the view that by
the time you reach retirement age, you would have at least paid for
a home and you don’t have the expense of having to buy a home and
the rest would be taken care of by the social safety net.”
Mr. Mitchell said he was perplexed as to why there
be preoccupation with age because he concluded a long time ago that
there should be no age discrimination of any kind.
He referred to a recent report about the National
Insurance Fund which appeared in the newspapers that stated the age
of retirement be removed from 65 to 67, in keeping with current world
trends as people are living longer and healthier.
In The Bahamas, people are starting their families
later and have obligations, which go beyond the normal age of 65, he
said. And, the rule is becoming more or less these days is that people,
when they reach the actual age of 65, they ask for extension of their
services because very often they are still paying for their homes.
“We went through a problem when many grandparents
had taken care of their children’s children because their children
died because of an epidemic, which swamped through this country because
of drugs and AIDS. So, many grandparents are carrying out these responsibilities
far beyond the normal retirement age,” Mr. Mitchell said.
He said he understood that there is a need for young
people to come into the work force, and that everybody is committed
to that. But he also wondered if you really have to attack old people
in order to make that point.
“People, if they have talent and they can still
serve the country and are able-bodied and in sound mind, I don’t think
there should be any reason why you can’t call on them to come and
lend their expertise.
“We have had and have numerous programmes for young
people to ensure that young people are trained to get into the workforce.
But that cannot be at the expense of people who are able-bodied, simply
because they reach a particular age,” Mr. Mitchell said.
