https://kiskadeewatch.com/opinion/letters/praying-for-justice-for-nathan-craig-and-shariff-zainul/
Praying for justice for Nathan Craig and Shariff Zainul
Dear Editor,
I am writing to offer my support to two distressing cases involving our elderly citizens and the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), which I recently read about in the newspapers. The cases I refer to are Mr. Nathan Craig, an 81-year-old gentleman from Linden, and Mr. Shariff Zainul, who is 75.
According to the reports, Mr. Craig, of 204 Cedar Street, MacKenzie, Linden, worked for Kaieteur Company Limited and later for Linden Mining Enterprise Limited from 1990 to 2003. It is alleged that he made all the qualifying contributions, yet he waited 13 years for a conclusion to his hearing before the NIS Appeal Tribunal. He was finally notified on December 18, 2023, that he had won his appeal. Since that time, he has reportedly not received his NIS pension.
In a similar vein, Mr. Zainul is said to have worked and paid NIS contributions from 1969 to 2001 and turned 75 on October 16, 2026. He, too, has reportedly not received his NIS pension and is now bedridden.
This situation is deeply troubling. It represents an irregularity that has been allowed to persist for far too long. When citizens pay into the NIS, they do so loyally and with a clear expectation—a legal right—to benefits for the payments they have made and to a replacement income when their bodies no longer allow them to earn a living.
Every nation must show compassion and empathy for its elders. One cannot help but ask: how much longer must these two gentlemen wait for the benefits they are rightfully owed?
I want to say to Mr. Craig from Linden and to Mr. Zainul how deeply sorry I am, as a Guyanese, to read of your plight. I sincerely pray that this matter be resolved sooner rather than later.
The National Insurance Scheme can and must do better than this. This is not how we should treat people who played a role in building this nation in the past. On the Board of the NIS is Mr. Seepaul Narine, a Union Leader from GAWU, a PPP Member of Parliament and an executive member of the PPP. Is this how Mr. Seepaul plans to treat the workers of this country?
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Prashad
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Source: Kiskadee Watch
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