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Mervin Downes, a 62-year-old watchman, said he was forced to retire just a year before he qualified for his pension.

And he is blaming what he describes as the negligence of the Ministry of Education for his current living condition.

Downes said he worked at a Clarendon school for nine years but was asked by the ministry to retire just before he reached the 10-year vested period.

"I received a letter in May 2016 telling me to retire in December of that year. I needed one more year for me to be eligible for the government pension. So when I ask dem, I was told to apply to the ministry for an extension," he said.

Downes said he did apply and was told by the school's principal to continue working until he received a response.

"I applied for the extension immediately after; dem tek a year and odd fi reply to mi. And den dem just send back a letter seh dem don't grant mi the extension, but dem nuh seh why," he said.

But he noted that during the year when he was waiting for a response, he was still being paid by the ministry.

Downes said he worked as a security guard for more than 25 years before taking on the school job. He was earning $17,000 per fortnight, but now, he's been reduced to a life of poverty.

"I gone down to nothing, I cya maintain miself. Now mi haffi a trust from people likkle something to eat. Mi cya pay mi bills, all mi insurance policy dem lapse," he said.

He said that he has two children, but they are barely better off.

"Dem do weh dem can do, but is not like dem can do like when mi did a work. Is a likkle yute gi mi fare fi mi come up here (to visit THE STAR) this morning," he said.

He said that if he got a pension, his living conditions would improve dramatically.

"If mi did get a likkle money from dem, mi cudda use it fi raise two chicken or two pig or something, but nothing," he said

Granville Valentine, general secretary for the National Workers' Union, believes Downes has a legitimate case.

"The school did not stop him from doing his work, which he did for another year. And he was being paid through the ministry. So, in my view, he worked up until he was qualified for pension," he said. "By virtue of the ministry accepting his letter, and then continuing to pay him, they're saying that ' we're giving you the extension'."