A PENSIONER’S lot in Pakistan can be pitiable because systems have often not evolved sufficiently to take the age-related limitations of this particular demographic into account.

Newspapers frequently report on the ordeal of infirm individuals having to suffer extended waiting periods at banks and, sometimes, humiliating treatment at the hands of bank staff while collecting paltry amounts at the beginning of each month.

Another dimension of the issue has now come to light that underscores the importance of putting in place streamlined disbursement methods not only for the pensioners but for the government itself.

Testifying before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, the National Bank president said the bank had discovered at least 600,000 ‘ghost’ pensioners who had for long been collecting pension amounts they were not entitled to receive, thus causing huge loss to the public exchequer.

Some NBP branches, he said, were dealing with up to 80,000 pensioners in the first few days of every month which resulted in further delays. Ostensibly, some heirs of deceased pensioners had chosen not to inform the bank of the latter’s demise and continued collecting on their behalf.

The fraud was uncovered during the bank’s computerisation of the pension system which will be completed by the end of the year and is based upon pensions being transferred directly into pensioners’ accounts that can be operated via ATM cards requiring biometric verification for transactions.

The possibility of deceit would thereby be largely eliminated. Equally important, so will the need for pensioners to queue up in person for hours to collect the pension, which — inhumane though it is in practice — is meant to safeguard against precisely such deception. That begs the question, how then could so many ghost pensioners go undetected for an extended period?

After all, although pensioners can depute someone to collect in their place, they can do so only for three months at a stretch.

Moreover, this is probably only the tip of the iceberg; there are certain to be many more ghost pensioners on other systems, such as Pakistan Post, from where pensions are disbursed. The authorities, rather than different institutions independently, should undertake efforts to address the shortcomings, thereby putting an end to such manipulation.

As it is, pensions account for a huge proportion of the government’s annual budget outlay, and while the amount undeservedly disbursed so far has yet to be determined, it is likely to be considerable.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2015

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