GEORGETOWN, Guyana – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has declared its full support for a High Court challenge that seeks to force the National Insurance Board (NIB) to pay minimum-rate pensioners what the law says they are owed, and to settle arrears that have built up since 2021.
The application for judicial review was filed last Friday by attorney-at-law and chartered accountant Christopher Ram, pensioner Kalicharan Heera, the Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers, the United Minibus Union and the Guyana Market Vendors Union. The applicants are represented by attorneys Khemraj Ramjattan and Christopher Ram, and say both the Board and the Attorney General will be served.
In a statement, APNU called the case “an important step in defending the rights, dignity and economic security of Guyana’s senior citizens,” adding that pension payments “are not acts of charity or government favours; they are entitlements protected by law.”
What the law says
At the heart of the case is Regulation 4(b) of the National Insurance Scheme Benefit Regulations, which states that an old-age pension shall “in no case” be less than 50 per cent of the Public Service minimum wage. The NIS has repeatedly acknowledged that rule on its website and in its annual and actuarial reports, the applicants say.
According to the applicants, the Scheme last met the requirement in 2020, when the Public Service minimum wage was $70,000 and the minimum pension was $35,000. Since then the minimum wage has risen several times. The 2026 National Estimates put it at $102,346, which would make the lawful minimum pension $51,173 a month. The published NIS minimum pension is $43,075, a shortfall of $8,098 every month.
| Monthly amount | |
|---|---|
| Public Service minimum wage (2026 Estimates) | $102,346 |
| Lawful minimum pension (50%) | $51,173 |
| Minimum pension actually paid | $43,075 |
| Shortfall per pensioner | $8,098 |
The applicants estimate that a pensioner who has been on the minimum rate throughout the period since 2021 is owed about $510,300. Ram has said that, on conservative assumptions, total arrears for 2021 to 2025 could exceed $5 billion before interest.
They are asking the court to declare that the minimum pension must be no less than half the Public Service minimum wage, to order the Board to pay at that rate, and to require it to account for and settle all arrears with interest, including sums owed to the estates of pensioners who have died. They also rely on section 34(2) of the National Insurance and Social Security Act, which provides for Parliament to make up any shortfall in the National Insurance Fund, arguing that if the Scheme cannot meet its obligations, the Government must.
Years without an increase
The gap opened during 2021, 2022 and 2023, when public servants received pay increases of 8, 7 and 6.5 per cent while the minimum NIS pension was not raised. When it was finally increased in 2024, by 21.3 per cent to $43,075, it still fell short of half the minimum wage.
The complaint is not new. In 2020, pensioners publicly questioned why the NIS raised the minimum pension to $35,000 only from January 2020, even though the minimum wage increase to $70,000 had been backdated to January 2019, leaving a year of arrears unpaid.
Parliament shut out
APNU reminded the public that the matter went to the National Assembly in 2024, when APNU MP Annette Ferguson tabled a motion, seconded by Juretha Fernandes, MP, calling for retroactive payments to minimum-rate pensioners for 2021 to 2023. The party said the motion was disallowed by Speaker Manzoor Nadir, “denying Parliament the opportunity to properly address an issue affecting some of our most vulnerable citizens,” and accused the PPP/C administration of allowing the matter to remain unresolved.
The applicants have also pointed to Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, who holds responsibility for the NIS. They argue that, as the minister responsible for the regulations and for the budgets that raised the Public Service minimum wage, he should have made sure the minimum pension kept pace.
How the case reached court
Ram said he acted after hearing repeated complaints from pensioners. On October 1, he and the unions wrote to the NIB demanding compliance with the statutory minimum and payment of arrears, giving the Board until October 9 to respond before going to court. Ram has also criticised several major unions for not joining the effort, saying their refusal “raises questions about whose interest they serve,” since many of their members will retire on the minimum pension.
No public response from the NIB had been reported at the time of publication.
“Prosperity without fairness”
APNU said it was “morally indefensible” that, in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, elderly Guyanese should have to go to court to obtain pension payments they say the law guarantees. Guyana’s GDP growth and oil revenues, the party said, “must mean more than statistics, expensive infrastructure and government declarations of prosperity.”
The party argued that good governance “cannot be measured solely by the construction of roads, bridges and buildings,” but by how the poor, elderly and vulnerable are provided for and whether public institutions carry out their statutory duties. The NIS, it said, “exists to provide social protection to contributors and beneficiaries, not to frustrate legitimate claims.”
APNU called on the Government and the NIB to urgently review the claims, establish the full extent of outstanding entitlements, promptly settle any arrears found to be due, put safeguards in place against future underpayments, and make the necessary financial provisions to honour those obligations.
“Economic growth without social justice is incomplete development… The elderly have already given their service to Guyana. It is now Guyana’s duty to honour its obligations to them.”
A Partnership for National Unity
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