AGD Stages Life Certificate Drive on Sept. 24

The Accountant General’s Department (AGD) will be hosting a life certificate pop-up drive at the Church of the Open Bible, 12 Washington Boulevard in Kingston, on Thursday (September 24), beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Speaking on the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Get the Facts’ Programme recently, Deputy Accountant General, Financial Operations at the AGD, Rahja Harrison, said a mobile drive is done by the entity before each quarter begins.

“Now, we go to all of the parishes, especially in the last two months. Since we had [Hurricane] Melissa, we have been visiting all parishes, primarily to engage with our pensioners to ensure that they can submit their life certificates because one of the things that we have realised is that some persons have a challenge getting their life certificates to us,” Mr. Harrison said.

“This is another measure we put in place to ensure that their pension is not disrupted. So, we are not waiting for them to come to us. We have initiated reaching out to them, again, based on the nature of the persons who we are dealing with. We think this medium provides them with an equal opportunity to get their life certificate in. And it has been helping and they have been really receptive of it and thankful,” he added.

Mr. Harris said the AGD will be using the pop-up at the Church of the Open Bible, to allow pensioners within that surrounding area an opportunity to submit their life certificates.

“We have realised that there has been a little challenge within that area, and our data have highlighted them. So, we are going to them and as I said before, we always try to meet them. We don’t wait for them to come. We meet them because some persons depend on this monthly income. So, therefore, we are making an extra effort this time around to go to this particular location in Kingston,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Mr. Harrison is also encouraging pensioners to make contact with the AGD if they believe there is a discrepancy with their pension.

“The honesty of our elderly is something to be commended. We do get calls. Even when the increases are being paid, we do get a call. There is an increase that [is to be] be paid to our pensioners, as well, and that would have been announced. So, we are working on that for the month of September. They should be seeing that increase once they have met the criteria. So, once they see a discrepancy, they normally reach out to us, whether in office or call our telephone lines or email us at info@ treasury.gov.jm, and we normally get through to them and help them to resolve it,” he said.