Good day.
It is my pleasure to address you briefly on the occasion of Social Security Week, 2015. The Social Security Act 1980 was passed in the Anguilla House of Assembly on November 3rd, 1980 and accordingly each year Social Security Week is celebrated in the week in which November 3rd falls. It is a good time to reflect on Social Security’s beginnings, to take stock and measure how far we have come, and to recalibrate and reposition if necessary to approach the future with confidence.
Permit me to do just that, briefly. When Chief Minister Ronald Webster’s vision of a social security system which would provide financial security for persons who are no longer able to work was presented to the House of Assembly, he faced opposition from within his own Party. The transcripts of the House of Assembly Meeting record that the proposed Social Security Scheme was called “too ambitious,” it was stated that the idea should be discussed “within the context of reality and rationality,” that “any social security scheme could only be implemented in the context of the island achieving certain financial goals and therefore the implementation should be slow and realistic”. In fact, at that time when there were two Ministers in addition to the Chief Minister, both of the Ministers were, at the least, unconvinced about the early introduction of a comprehensive social security system. But Mr. Webster recognized that as backward as Anguilla was then, economic growth would come eventually, and workers would need the protection against economic uncertainties that a social security system promised. Mr. Webster’s persistence in pushing for the passage of the Social Security Act, and the implementation of the Social Security System on January 1st 1982 was an act of faith that economic development and employment would come. And it did, for the System was implemented at the exact time that Anguilla began to be transformed from an economic backwater. Allow me to commend at this time those who comprised the first Social Security Board: Mr. Fabian Marcel Fahie, Mr. Coville Petty, Mr. Allister Richardson, Pastor Davis Lloyd, and Mr. Franklyn Richardson (deceased), and the initial staff members Carmen Woods, Yolanda Gumbs, Pansy Lloyd, Ramona Fleming and Craig Snively, who worked with me in the face of great opposition to convert the vision into reality. And as Anguilla developed, so did the System, to the point where it is now widely accepted as, in the words of Chief Minister the Honourable Victor Banks, “the most important institution for the social and economic development of Anguilla”.
So we come to the present, where Reserves exceed $310 million. There are 520 Age Pensioners, 100 Disability Pensioners, over 150 persons receiving Survivors Benefit, and 120 persons receiving Non-Contributory Old Age Pension. That means that presently, about 900 persons receive a pension check every two weeks, for the year these will total $11 million. Another $4 million is paid in sickness, maternity and funeral benefits, for a grand total of $15 million this year in benefits. We must certainly give Mr. Webster the praise for his vision without which the Social Security System could not have been today’s reality! I commend all who have contributed over the years to this success story, whether as employers, employed persons, Board or staff, policy makers or consultants.
And what of that future? The future is complex, and the only thing that is certain is change. The Social Security System must be prepared to face the many challenges that lie ahead, and it must do so with confidence. It must upgrade its technological systems, it must be governed by modernized legislation, it must equip its management and staff with new competencies, it must effectively manage its financial and other resources, it must administer a National Health Insurance system that is based on reality, it must be overseen by Government which does what it is supposed to do and does not do what it is not supposed to do, it must be managed by a Board which has the required competencies and which applies the highest standards of corporate governance, and it must have customer stakeholders who are prepared to demand these high standards and accept nothing less. And it must do its utmost to ensure that the society in which it exists is just, prosperous, safe and healthy.
It is therefore appropriate that we have chosen “Health, Safety and Social Security: A Shared Responsibility” as the theme for Social Security Week this year. As I welcome a new Minister and a new Social Security Board, and as we begin to step out into the future, I call on each and every one of us: Minister; Board; employed person; employer; staff member and stakeholder of whatever type; to recognize that while we each have individual responsibilities, we also have a shared responsibility for our collective wellbeing: our health, our safety, our social security!
We started our Week of Activities with a wonderful church service where we were challenged to remember those who are outside the gate, that is, those who are not covered by social security, and we heard God’s promise from Jeremiah 33:6 about the land “Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security”. We were addressed by the Minister and the Chairman of the Board who reinforced the theme’s key concepts. As the Social Security Week continues, we would appreciate your support as we re-introduce our Lecture Series, as we take the message of “Health, Safety and Social Security: A Shared Responsibility” to the workplaces and schools, as we fellowship with our pensioners, take a health walk, and witness our talented poets as they address the theme’s component terms.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
