By IPS Correspondents
PORT OF SPAIN, May 5 1998 (IPS)

There is serious concern in Trinidad and Tobago that the so-called “Old Age Crisis” due in more than 30 years, has already reached the shores of this small twin-island Caribbean state bringing poverty and suffering to thousands of pensioners.

The Old Age Crisis refers to global projections that by the year 2030, there will be more than 1.4 billion persons over the age of 65 laying claim to the dwindling resources of social security schemes throughout the developed and developing world.

The crisis is leading many countries of the hemisphere to dramatically review their options. In Jamaica and Barbados comprehensive reforms are in train and Trinidad and Tobago has recently entered a new phase of review.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Social Development Minister, Manohar Ramsaran believes the problem has been serious enough to warrant global attention and concludes that there has been “the general inability of social security schemes worldwide to deliver a satisfactory product.”

“Many schemes … are of the “pay as you go” type which require the current generation of workers to provide the means to support the retired workers covered by the scheme,” Ramsaran says.

“These schemes are becoming overburdened given the increasing number of retirees consequent on recent breakthroughs in medical science which impact positively on longevity as well as declines in fertility.”

New initiatives notwithstanding, activists linked to the Trinidad and Tobago Government Pensioners Association (GPA) claim that unrealistically low pension payments are contributing to an increasing degree to the number of persons joining the ranks of the poor.

Of a population of 1.2 million in Trinidad and Tobago there are close to 80,000 persons over the age of 65 and among them is a heavy proportion of 15,000 public service pensioners.

Ramsaran admits the country is finding it increasingly difficult to pay its annual pension bills and that a new formula is needed.

“The cost of government’s current unfunded pension scheme is growing at an exponential rate,” he argues.

GPA spokespersons however say the government must find a faster way to attend to their needs. They claim that while there has been some effort aimed at addressing the situation, there have been problems.

“If we look at the question of the current thrust of pension reform, we find that the older pensioners are not at all addressed in this matter … they are thinking of things down the line,” says GPA president, Ernest Massiah. “We want to know exactly what happens to us.”

But Ramsaran points to the rising pension bill which, in 1998, is likely to reach the 1.6 million-dollar marker and is expected to double by the year 2002. “If this situation is allowed to continue, these payments will have to be financed by even higher payroll taxes,” he says.

On the contrary, the rate of direct income taxes have been falling over the past 10 years.

“This situation cannot be allowed to continue unchecked,” says Ramsaran. “A new and improved system of social security becomes an imperative.”

A Government Task Force here has been reviewing the existing social security scheme and, according to the Minister, “carefully examining various alternatives best suited to our socio-economic conditions.”

There remains, however, a degree of impatience on the part of pensioners who say time is running out for them.

Former political activist, Maurice Stewart, himself a pensioner, also warns that while there has been much focus on the plight of some public servants, there are retired government workers at the lowest income levels whose monthly pensions do not exceed 80 dollars.

“Don’t forget the small people,” Stewart advises the GPA.

Ramsaran promises that “by mid-year” a “basic framework” will be in place which has as its goal “the long-term objective … to provide at least a guaranteed minimum pension for every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.”

What is being proposed is a two-tiered system; one level involving the upgrading of national insurance benefits and another which establishes individual funds handled by pension fund administrators.

“Each citizen will be able to invest in the country’s economic well- being and would thus have a direct and visible stake in the economy which augurs well for citizens’ participation in economic development,” Ramsaran says

The proposal has been applauded by people in the GPA, but some say the plight of existing pensioners who have served successive governments remains apparently unnoticed.

The best Ramsaran has offered so far has been to say that the transition to a new system would “guarantee benefits to those already retired.”

People like Massiah and Stewart insist this simply is not good enough. “The minister probably wants to deal with us in his other role as the minister responsible for the poor,” one pensioner says.

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