Sir J blames councillors for pay delays

 By ELIZABETH VUVU

NEW Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan has blamed ward councillors and recorders for the delay in payments for a handful of old and disabled citizens.

Sir Julius, who worked so hard to have the pension budget ready for delivery before Christmas, said the administration, ward councillors and recorders must accept full blame for slow delivery and uproar by disgruntled citizens who had missed out on payments.

He expressed regret that payments had come so late after Christmas and many people had unfortunately been left out of the payroll by the ward councillors and ward recorders denying them their fair share of money allocated by the government.

He said the pension budget provided full amounts for delivery to these people and he was disappointed that people responsible at the wards and LLG levels, including the administration and office of Community Development had let them down.

Sir Julius, however expressed appreciation to the teams canvassing the province and delivering cash payments for the old and disabled citizens, fulfilling the provincial governments closing programme for 2010.

The pension budget provided for full lump sum payment of K540, combining the outstanding half yearly payment of K180 for 2009 and K360 for the full year in 2010.