Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is encouraging Barbadians to participate in the town hall meetings organised by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) as government takes preemptive measures to ensure the future viability of the Scheme for future generations.
Speaking during a press conference at Ilaro Court today, ahead of the start of the first of three town hall meetings at Combermere School, the Prime Minister insisted that the fund was not in crisis, pointing out there were enough funds to “cover what we need to cover” and there was a need to plan for the second half of the 2030’s now instead of taking “far more difficult decisions” as a country, in the future.
Ms. Mottley maintained that being proactive was the right approach and it afforded the new NIS Director the opportunity to get the new systems functioning correctly and the new Board Chairman and Deputy a chance to “get things right”, based on suggestions from many members of the public on how the system can be improved.
“And a lot of it makes sense. But we have now this dedicated focus and I’m asking as many people to participate as possible, such that by the end of the month, when all of the details and recommendations come back to us, we’re in a position to make decisions, and also lay out a framework for monitoring over the next 12 to 15 years, to allow the country to adapt and fix and to test and fix as necessary,” the Prime Minister underlined.
The town hall meetings, which started today, will continue on Wednesday, August 17, and Thursday, August 18, at the Alexandra School, Queen’s Street, St. Peter and the Princess Margaret School, Six Roads, St. Philip, respectively, at 6:00 p.m.