by Linda Straker
- Validated PRG’s Pension Disqualification Act ruled unconstitutional
- Pension Act provides for civil/public workers to receive a pension from Government
- PRG moved pension payments to be paid under National Insurance Act
Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell has announced that a committee will soon be appointed to review the impact of the 29 March 2022 Court judgment, and at the same time make recommendations to the Government on the best working solution(s) to the financial challenge that has arisen because of the judgment.
On 29 March 2022, a High Court Judge ruled that the Pension Disqualification Act which was originally approved during the reign of the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG), and then validated by the Validation Act of 1985, was unconstitutional.
The Pension Act provides for civil/public workers to receive a pension from the Government upon reaching the age of retirement. However, the PRG by approval of the National Insurance Act moved pension payments to be paid under that legislation. As a result of the March ruling, pension payment is restored to Government workers.
Dr Keith Mitchell, while addressing a political meeting on Sunday, reconfirmed that Government will not be appealing the judgment but will be seeking a solution to pay out what is estimated to be more than EC$1 billion in payment from the Consolidated Fund.
“We are confident that we will find a solution that will satisfy the workers and the people of Grenada. I want to make this pledge here tonight, I declare to you that through visionary and mature leadership and through dialogue and reasonableness we will fix this pension issue,” he told the crowd.
“Don’t give yourself no headache, we have the people here to solve the problem. We have good people with us, we have people who understand the labour movement and the worker’s interest,” he said. He identified Labour Minister Peter David and retired trade unionist Chester Humphrey who currently serves as President of the Senate, as people who will be working to finalise the solution.
“We have people like brother Chester Humphrey who worked his entire life with the labour movement and is onboard with us to help solve this problem, so don’t worry at all,” said Prime Minister Mitchell.
In a recent virtual meeting with members of the Social Partners Committee, the Prime Minister underscored the significance of the pension ruling, said that it is not only for public officers but for all Grenadians who will have to contribute to any fiscal measures that may become necessary to allow the state to fund pension payouts.
Throy and Wilson T-2000 has never read the revenue and expenditure document, never.
what are you guys willing to sacrifice for immediate pension payment , healthcare, infrastructure , education , salary increase?
Both of you mentioned the easy part about pension payment, the lump some of monies payed to person already retired, but what about the approx 120 million a year.
If the government takes a loan to payment the lump sum, can it meat its other commitments (most likely), but the government will not be able to receive financing going forward, we will be a county running on grants. This is a national security problem , its too risky.
if anything occurs nothing can be done(eg inflation, hurricane , land slide , industrial problem)
CBI monies are expected to have a drastic decline going forward, our main applicants Russia and Ukraine are gone.
Also you may not want to hear this, but the pension amount is two high. Not even Trinidad and Barbados are paying employees 70% of their last salary
Constitutional reform is needed in Grenada(but this may never occur, who is going to vote to get less money, lol)
The pension should be payed out in a way such that it stimulates growth but also meet our existing commitments(loans , gdp , etc)
If the NNP wins they should cancel some infrastructure projects, only core infrastructure projects should remain( road, schools, heath centers, etc..) , cancel that cultural centre for now and go ahead with their phased approach. Also if was prime minister I would not discuss any thing with the unions, they unions are an unbias NDC organization(this is dangerous). further more if the unions want credibility they should post some numbers, example how much people with actual issues.
but seriously , we need unbias union president immediately, even if you don’t get what you want coming on tv and making statements about your political affiliation is unheard of. what if ndc cant fulfill your dreams. geez man.
If NDC wins they should not take a loan the pay entire pension(two risky), maybe a phased loan approach (test the waters first).
I wish ndc all the best, I wished they would announce some more infrastructure projects and stop topically identifying problems then proceeded to simplify them as easy to implement “we gonna do that”. lets call a hard problem a hard problem, a spade a spade. lets be more realistic and flesh out your ideas more
victory might be easier if you did that
not sure if i’m going to vote but if I did I will vote N** I think the NDC has very poor candidates apart from ron and dickon
lets compare cox and andy, cox has clearly outlined “REALISTIC” plans for his constituency, while the other has said very little about projects, but only topically identified problems that the entire country knows about without talking about real implementation. this explanation can be applied to the other candidates.
and yes this matters it is easy to see what the incumbent government is doing and will do. they literally posted a budget(duh).
the party coming in, especially people siting on the side line for years should have a lot more to say. not just topically saying things and using buzzwords like healthcare, imani, pension
and don’t get me stated on healthcare, what does it mean to have good health care. I need a definition . because both NNP and NDC say they gonna fix health care but what does that entail.
I commend the NNP for added much needed infrastructure to healthcare sector over the years but I think as a small nation we should get the basics correct first , basic equipment should be available.
good healthcare is not cheap, I mean come on, you cant expect Grenada to have healthcare on the level of countries that spend 250mill plus on it when we spent only 22.9 mill(this excludes infrastructure), could we bring it up to 50mil, sure . The question is ask again what will we sacrifice.(this is a NDC question)
forgive any spelling or grammatical mistakes, i’m not going to read this over
WHY! Stop this foolishness and pay the people their money. It’s not a favour you doing them, it’s their constitutional right.
Mr Keith Mitchell stop trying to use emotional blackmail by saying the people of Grenada will suffer if you pay this money. You didn’t think about the people during “cell phone gate”’ the Grenlec farce or the so call airport extension.
Borrow the money and give the pensioners their pensions and gratuities. Also borrow enough to pay the teachers the money you docked from their pay. This will boost the economy. This is your last chance to do something decent before you exit the Botanical Garden.
We don’t need no Committee.Why cannot the Prime. Minister and his inner circle make these decisions? Do they not possess sufficient vision and maturity? How many dollars will these “fiscal measures” cost each citizen? What changes to tourist taxes will be made? And what’s all this clever doublespeak about “ We have good people with us, we have people who understand the labour movement and the worker’s interest”.
Doublespeak? That’s triplespeak.