Grenada assessing financial impact of constitutional pension ruling

Grenada is appointing a committee to review the impact of a high court ruling last month that could result in a large payout to public servants who were disqualified from receiving a pension following the enforcement of the Pension Disqualification Act in 1983.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell says the committee will be making recommendations on the best working solution to the financial challenge that has arisen because of the judgment.

“We are confident that we will find a solution that will satisfy the workers and the people of Grenada. I want to make this pledge here tonight, I declare to you that through visionary and mature leadership and through dialogue and reasonableness we will fix this pension issue,” Mitchell said at a political meeting of the ruling New National Party.

He told supporters that his government would not be appealing the judgment but will be seeking a solution to the payout of what is estimated to be more than EC$1 billion from the Consolidated Fund.

On March 29, the Grenada High Court ruled that the Pension Disqualification Act, which passed into law under the People’s Revolutionary Government, RPG, headed by then prime minister Maurice Bishop, and validated by the Validation Act of 1985, was unconstitutional.

PENSION ISSUE

The pension issue surfaced with the collapse of the PRG, which during its term in office, 1979 to 1983, had established Grenada’s National Insurance Scheme and replaced the pension scheme for public servants that had been enshrined in the constitution.

The High Court ruling in March restores the original pension scheme for public sector workers.

“Don’t give yourself no headache, we have the people here to solve the problem. We have good people with us, we have people who understand the labour movement and the worker’s interest,” Mitchell said at the meeting on Sunday, identifying, Labour Minister Peter David and retired trade unionist Chester Humphrey, who currently serves as President of the Senate, as among those to be tapped for the committee.

“We have people like brother Chester Humphrey who worked his entire life with the labour movement and is on board with us to help solve this problem, so don’t worry at all,” the PM said.

Previously, at a recent virtual meeting with members of the Social Partners Committee, Mitchell underscored the significance of the pension ruling, saying it would not only impact public officers but all Grenadians who contribute to any fiscal measures that fund pension payouts.

CMC