PUBLIC OUTCRY has forced the National Insurance Department to put the brakes, for now, on the plan to force all pensioners to maintain bank accounts in order to access their money.
Following complaints about the inconvenience and hardship that would be imposed on the elderly, the National Insurance (NIS) board has pulled a print and electronic media campaign intended to publicize the plan, days after the story broke in last Tuesday’s DAILY NATION.
Media houses were informed, in a brief emailed note from NIS director Ian Carrington, to discontinue all advertisements until further notice. Radio announcements had already aired and the first of a planned series of newspaper notices was published on Thursday, while television commercials were scheduled to begin running soon.
The notice to media houses gave no reason for the decision.
When reached yesterday, Carrington declined to comment on the latest development.
However, the SUNDAY SUN has been reliably informed by a NIS source that the backlash from the public has prompted the National Insurance Department to reconsider how it will implement the plan to cease printing pension cheques and mandate pensioners to maintain bank accounts.
Full story in today’s SUNDAY SUN.
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