Dear Social Security

Yesterday, on this news portal, I read an article titled ” Antigua and Barbuda Social Security celebrates 52 years of service “

As I was reading through the article, I smiled at the statement, which also peeked my interest ” the organization continues its commitment to ensuring the financial well-being of its beneficiaries”.

I assume the author of the article forgot to conclude the statement with ” in an untimely manner”.

At the end of the article, I was also expecting to see many congratulatory messages or comments for an indigenous organization such as Social Security accomplishing such a milestone of 52 years of service to our beautiful nation.

Sadly, that was not the case! Surprisingly, it was only a handful of persons who commented on the article and approx 90 percent of the comments were negative.

Obviously, the views from the public, do not speak well of the organization’s image. In contrast to what was mentioned in the article, it is evident that the public at large is definitely dissatisfied and have shown their disgust of the service that has been offered by the organization.

The fact of the matter, throughout the 52 years of existence, there have been too many negative complaints about the organization’s service. Therefore, is Social Security really meeting its objective of ” growing to provide for you ?”

In contrast to the earlier years, perhaps during 70’s to 90’s, the establishment, although it was in its infancy stage back then, the service seemed to be alot better. Beneficiaries were receiving their benefits in a timely manner. A person would send in their application today and within a week’s time, payments for their benefits were made.

As the years progressed, dissapointly, the service began taking a nose dive.

The waiting period to collect benefits began lengthening; hence in 2025, beneficiaries are still waiting for an extremely long extended period of time to get their financial accumens.

Added to the grievances of the long waits, persons in recent times, are now complaining about lands been bought from Social Security and to date, no efforts have been made to put a proper infrastructure in place. As a result, the patrons cannot move forward with their business.

There have also been concerns as to why extravagant rent has to be paid to house the staff rather than renovating the building of its own located on Long street and prevent it from further deteriorating and becoming a sore eye in the heart of St. John’s.

It is of the view that the rental expenditures is an indirect burden on the contributors pockets.

The What’s App service for the pensioners is another area where access to the What’s App receptionist tends to be futile. Calls after calls are made and there are no responses.

Unfortunately, the public has nothing much to smile & celebrate concerning Social Security.

The administration need to get their act in order. It is full time for Social Security be a beacon in our community.

Alex