Newsletter

First Quarter 2002

Happy New Year from the Public Relations Department

Here we are again, at the start of a new year. This is usually a time for reflection, but, having done our reflections over the course of the past year, we have made it a time for action. During this year 2001, our Board, its management and staff, took time to examine our Organization and its operations from three viewpoints-the retrospective, the introspective and the prospective. Our three-dimensional self-analysis has forcefully brought home to us the truth in the old adage, "If we continue to do what we've always done, we will continue to get what we've always gotten," and the need for immediate changes in the way we do business.

As our Organization moves toward realization of its ultimate goal of total inclusion of the working population, we look forward to welcoming our new contributors the Self-Employed into the Scheme. We are heartened by the prospect of increased economic protection for more of our Nation’s citizens. We are confident that time will prove this a prudent decision, for despite its complexities, it cannot be denied that Social Security impacts all of our lives, individually and collectively as a nation.

This year, the Public Relations department looks forward to intensifying our public information/education activities to ensure increased understanding of all the processes of Social Security.

We take this opportunity to wish everyone a Healthy and Prosperous Year 2001.

Social Security and the Self-Employed

One of the greatest fears in life is the fear of getting sick or growing old and having no income, or no means of support. Social Security was instituted to alleviate this fear by ensuring that all contributing workers and their families are assured basic economic protection in the event of sickness, maternity, invalidity, old age or death. Therefore, no working individual who truly understands Social Security what it is, what it does and how it impacts our lives should hesitate, even for a moment, to become a willing participant in the Scheme.

The Scheme believes that all working persons must be responsible, at least in part, for their own economic protection, as well as the protection of their family. And while it is understood that most self-employed persons who are non-contributors have a variety of income protection plans, we believe that no alternative plan can be as financially stable as Social Security, because there is no assurance that such a plan will last as long as it is needed or that the self-employed person’s business will survive unexpected economic downturns. We believe that ‘reversal’ is a very real threat to fortune. If persons who do not contribute to the scheme should die, become disabled or reach old age without realizing the benefits of their alternative plans; or if their business the source of their support should fail, then it puts an unfair burden on the contributor, and by extension, the Scheme, to step in and provide financial support the very situation that Social Security was instituted to prevent.

Our society has been socialized over time to believe that the government owes us something. What we have not been educated to realize is that the government, to which we look for everything, has nothing to give except that which we ourselves have paid in taxes. When we demand a benefit from the government, we are demanding it from our friends and neighbours because every dollar the government spends comes from the taxes we pay.

Mandatory Participation to be Instituted

For these reasons, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda no longer considers it fair, or actuarially sound, to permit optional participation or to exclude particular working groups from participating in the Scheme. The Government will therefore enforce mandatory compliance by the entire self-employed population, to be instituted on April 2, in this year 2001.

Self-employed persons are independent contractors who render services on their own account. In other words, they are individuals who work for themselves. Categories of self-employment include, but are not limited to: independent doctors, lawyers, contractors, consultants, farmers, taxi drivers, vendors, fishermen, barbers, hairdressers, tailors, seamstresses, mechanics and landscapers.

The coming on-board of the self-employed will necessitate a number of changes, currently being put in place by the Scheme’s management. These include adjustments to the regulations to include requirements and language pertinent to the self-employed; administrative alignment to facilitate registration and collection of contributions and; public education and information. The Scheme intends to conduct a number of town hall meetings throughout the island to properly inform and educate the self-employed public o n matters including the rate of their contribution, the benefits offered, registration dates and procedures, etc. In addition, self-employed persons may expect to be kept informed through radio, television and newspaper announcements.

Social Security Hosts Awards Dinner

Our Annual Awards Dinner was celebrated on Saturday, December 30, at the Colona Beach Resort. Approximately one hundred and fifty persons, including Board members, managers, employees and invited guests were in attendance.

Eversleigh Warner, manager of the Compliance department, was the evening’s master-of-ceremonies. Our director, Lennox Gardner, delivered the welcoming remarks and the Very Reverend Dean William Lake, our deputy-chairman, offered prayers. Our chairman, Ambassador Leroy King, also addressed the gathering, while the feature address was delivered by board member Ilean Ramsey.

Entertainment for the evening came in the form of a Christmas rendition by the Social Security choir and a poem ably recited by Danie Horsford in Data Entry. The M.C. ‘disappointed’ the gathering with an announcement that another rendition planned by the choir, as well as a solo by Audwin Walsh, had to be dropped from the program in the interest of time.

The awards ceremony was presided over by our new deputy-director, Jocelyn Roberts, who in her capacity as Human Resources Manager, planned the evening’s event with the assistance of her department staff, Aneta Matthew and Sandra Matthias, and committee members Eversleigh Warner, Alvin Langley, Danie Horsford, Eugene Hurst and Barbara John. Employee commendations were awarded in four categories.

Fitzroy Horsford in the Inspectorate section, won the award for Most Outstanding Supervisor and Desmond McMaster was voted Most Outstanding Inspector; Lorilyn Walker in the Accounts section was voted Most Improved Employee and; Bridget Bell in Information took home the coveted Employee of the Year award. Following the awards ceremony, Jocelyn Roberts offered the vote of thanks, after which we dined on a scrumptious three-course buffet prepared by the resort’s chef, before capping the evening with dancing to music provided by the Dorsett Group. The management and staff extend heartiest congratulations and our appreciation to all the awardees for their commitment to duty and for a job well done.

Onward and Upward

Cottrille George, who has given 27 years of stellar service to the Organization the last 14 as our deputy-director—was recently appointed to the position of Superintendent of the Medical Benefits Scheme. In honouring Mr. Grorge at the recent Awards Dinner, Director Lennox Gardner applauded his outstanding performance and dubbed him a ‘stalwart’ of Social Security, whose departure is a great loss for the Organization. Gardner said he has no doubt that George’s commitment to duty and leadership abilities will help make Medical Benefits a superior organization. The director thanked Mr. George on behalf of the entire Organization and wished him every success in his new position.