Among his legacies, Mr Edmund Bartlett will be remembered as the tourism minister under whose watch the Tourism Workers Pension Scheme (TWPS) came to life, driven by the vision and energy for which he has come to be known.

This is not to put an undeserved halo above his head, but the idea of the TWPS was always a great one; indeed, a game changer in the tourism industry where an estimated 80 per cent of workers, up to recent times, were retiring with no pension arrangement in place.

That is a cruel reality when it is considered that tourism is the country’s number one foreign exchange earner and the largest private employer for far longer than many can remember.

It was a feel-good moment this Tuesday when Mr Bartlett, in opening the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, disclosed that nearly 10,000 workers had been registered
— 7,027 are contributing members
— in the TWPS, with contributions exceeding $1.6 billion as of April 19, 2024.

Moreover: “This has resulted in total contributions of $1.63 billion as of April 19, 2024. Monthly contributions to the scheme are now averaging over $80 million and, given this average, the scheme is well on its way to recording total contributions of over $2 billion by the summer of this year,” the minister reported.

It is important to acknowledge that the figure of 10,000 workers is, in a manner of speaking, a drop in the bucket, because a recent estimate put the number of tourism workers
— permanent, contracted and self-employed
— at 350,000.

Drill down a bit and one will see that it is a serious number of tourism workers who are going home without a pension upon reaching the age of 65. No doubt, many of them have had to turn to PATH (Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education) and other State programmes.

At the same time, while the population of the pension scheme is not close to its potential, much has been achieved in the relatively short span of two years since it kicked into action, after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The people of Jamaica can be proud that it was their hard-earned taxpayer dollars which seeded the endowment fund of $1 billion that the Government provided to give a measure of comfort, albeit modest, to their compatriots.

Mr Bartlett further reported that the endowment fund now stands at $1.25 billion as of March 31, 2024. When added to the total contribution to date, total funds under management stand at $2.88 billion. Based on the run rate, total funds under management will reach $3 billion by June of this year.

Fund manager, Sagicor, and fund administrator Guardian Life are to be commended for their work in building this critical scheme, which will justly reward and offer hope for thousands of hard-working Jamaicans and their families at such a vulnerable time in their lives.

We in this space are sure that among those celebrating with Mr Bartlett is the late founder and chairman of this newspaper and Sandals Resorts International, Mr Gordon “Butch” Stewart, who had put his considerable muscle behind a pension scheme for Jamaican tourism workers.

Defying the naysayers, he established the highly successful Appliance Traders Group Pension Scheme for his employees, and held it out as an example of what could be done for tourism workers on a whole.

Mr Stewart would be turning, but happily, in his grave.