Letters to the editor - November 9, 2022

Conference on pension gaps

It has been reported that a conference on pension gaps is being held on November 16.

In the Times of Malta of February 22, 2020, there was an interesting contribution about gender pension gaps.

It has to be pointed out the pension reform divided pensioners into two groups according to age. It not only failed to address the problem but created and widened further the gaps which involve both genders. The impact on females, especially widows, will be worse.

It appears that, currently, there is no awareness about the financial implications involved, to the detriment of both genders.

In the circumstances, it has to be mentioned that the pension reform was particularly interested in the sustainability of the system and ignored completely the adequacy dimension.

All pensioners must be treated equally. The pay-as-you-go system was based on solidarity that exists between workers and pensioners. Any unjust measures to disrupt the system are deplorable and should not be carried out.

Carmel Mallia, former president, Alliance of Pensioners Organisations – Lija

Health hazard

Stagnant water at the unfinished site is attracting mosquitoes.

A building project at the bottom of Triq il-Lunzjata, abutting on to The Strand, Sliema, has been left unfinished for years, uglifying the area. It is also posing health risks to the residents in the vicinity and to passers-by.

This is because the bottom of the unfinished structure is full of stagnant water, which, as expected, attracts mosquitoes.

The responsibility for all this falls on the shoulders of the developer, who does not seem to care much about the fact that the location of this mess is right in the middle of a shopping centre and that his building site has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

However, those entities and persons whose remit is to ensure good construction practices also bear responsibility in this matter.

Lino Briguglio – Sliema

Banks and the aged

Further to the excellent leader in the Times of Malta of November 5 on local banks needing to be age-friendly, readers – and, of course, the banking community too – may be interested in reading the B.Comm (Hons) Banking and Finance thesis which Paul Fenech Castaldi wrote (under my supervision) in the 2020/2021 academic year in the University of Malta’s Department of Banking and Finance.

Entitled ‘Digital Banking Problems Faced by the Elderly’, the study is an excellent analysis of what in reality makes some old persons “adopters” and others “non adopters” of modern digital gizmos.

John Consiglio – Birkirkara