Social Security and the Development Bank rigged with financial mismanagement says Wrensford
Former director of the St Christopher and Nevis Social Security said Wednesday that the greatest risk to the federation’s social security scheme is the alleged mismanagement that is now taking place at the Development Bank under the Team Unity administration.
His Excellency Ambassador, Steve Wrensford, who worked in social security for 20 years said since social security was introduced in 1978, the fund has grown to over EC$1.4 billion and expressed concern over the high level of delinquency at the Development Bank and the lack of experience of the new Social Security director, who reportedly is a founding member of Prime Minister Timothy Harris’ People’s Labour Party (PLP).
A guest of Freedom 106.5 FM “Issues” programme on Wednesday, Wrensford, a former Non-Resident St Kitts and Nevis Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, noted that social security money is for the financial security of retired persons who make a contribution to the fund, those who get sick, or in the case of women, when they go on leave as a result of pregnancy.
He noted that social security is also a source of financing for government projects, and we know that hundreds of millions of dollars have been taken out of social security and put into the Development Bank of St Kitts and Nevis.
“It is therefore a great danger to all of us when there is no transparency about how our social security money is spent. There is no transparency when the person employed to be the Head of Social Security does not have the technical know-how or experience to administer the fund,” said Wrensford, who pointed out that Antonio Maynard, who took up the post in June as Director of Social Security is a political hack and a founding member of the co-ruling Peoples Labour Party (PLP) of Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris.
He further revealed that the directors on the Social Security Board are mostly members of Prime Minister Harris’ PLP.
“There is no transparency when the brother of the Prime Minister, who is the CEO of the Development Bank, sits on the Social Security Board with millions of social security dollars being transferred in the Development Bank without any real project being identified,” said Wrensford.
In 2017, the Chairperson of the St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board, Ms. Martiza Bowry, resigned in the face of political pressure to release the full sum of EC$41 million of Social Security funds for an NHC housing project which was not finalised at the time. In 2018, the female accountant at the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis resigned after just 10 months on the job.
“The Development Bank has not had any banking regulatory oversight since 2015. We also understand that the relationship between the Caribbean Development Bank and the Development Bank of St Kitts and Nevis is either non-existent or questionable,” said Wrensford.
He also pointed out that since 2015, no financial statements for the St Christopher and Nevis Social Security has been laid on the table of the St Kitts and Nevis National Assembly. The law requires that annual statements are laid six months after the end of each financial year.