The narrative of family members taking away the pension of their elderly mothers is a recurring concern for the authorities and civic groups.
But Member of Parliament for St Andrew Dr Romel Springer is also expressing disquiet that some women are eyeing the pension cheques of some male retirees who seem to give them up gladly.
He was making his contribution to the debate of the Older Persons (Care and Protection) Bill, 2026 in the House of Assembly on Tuesday.
“I’m sure that there are some older females who are also abused. Some people may argue that some men give away the money, and they give it away with glee. Some people do that. I am sure that that, in many cases, is the happiest money that they’ve ever spent, but that does not change the fact that it can be construed as abuse if it gets out of hand,” Springer said.
He reiterated that there were people out there who “may take advantage of older women as well, maybe not as frequently as the other way around, but that’s the world that we live in”.
“I know there are men who will tell me that it’s not abuse. Matter of fact, they look forward to it. So it’s not abuse, but the simple truth is that, in some cases, it goes too far – when it gets to the point where you are giving away everything, and you can’t buy food for yourself, or you have to go back and beg back for money.
“You’ve got to go back and beg back for money to buy something for yourself. And it gets that far, you can’t pay your bills, you’ll find yourself on the street,” he cautioned.
He said it was not right that “whenever you get a pension, somebody can find you, can change it for you, and spend it for you . . . that’s wickedness. So, I just wanted to put that in there because I know that is perhaps one of the most rampant forms of elder abuse that we see in this country. And because of our culture, and because of our history, we’ve come to not acknowledge that form of [behaviour] as actual abuse.”
Springer said he was glad that it was being addressed seriously to ensure that pensioners who fall victim to people like that can have some form of recourse. (JS)
