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Dar es Salaam. The Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA) yesterday denied that the decision to harmonize the payment of pension benefits was due to huge debts that the government owed to social security funds.
Speaking to the media in Dar es Salaam, SSRA Executive Director Irene Isaka said the government has not borrowed money from social security funds since 2013, after reaching its peak of Borrowing, which represents 10% of the total savings of members.
It responded to the government's suggestion to introduce the new formula for calculating pension benefits in response to misuse of funds spent on various projects.
Under the new formula, retirees will now receive 25% of their savings as a lump sum, the remaining 75% being paid monthly.
Under the old system, the members of the Government Employees Retirement Fund (FGPP), the Local Authority Retirement Fund and the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) received 50% of their benefits. pension in the form of a lump sum and the rest as a monthly lump sum.
"It is not true that the new regulations were introduced to cover funds that were misused. Regulations have been introduced to minimize operational costs and create equality among members of all pension funds, "said Isaka. "As far as we are concerned, the government's debt to social security funds is still valid because we have not received any documentation indicating that it has been cleared."
However, Isaka said the government has not borrowed from social security funds since 2013 after reaching the ceiling.
"According to the regulations, the government is not allowed to borrow more than 10% of the savings of its members, and this limit was reached in 2013," she said.
Ms. Isaka added, however, that the government, through its institutions such as ministries, could still borrow from pension funds to implement development projects.
The latest report by the Comptroller and Auditor General shows that the government and its various institutions and agencies owe pension funds totaling 8 trillion shillings.
According to the report, the government and its entities tend to borrow from pension funds without bothering to pay their debts.
The report specifically mentions the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and the National Identification Authority (Nida), among the public institutions whose financial statements have been altered by suspicious transactions execute their mandates in a professional manner.
Ms. Ester Bulaya, Minister of State for Labor, Employment, Youth and Persons with Disabilities to the Prime Minister, spoke at length about the decision to revise the formula governing the payment of benefits to retirees and the future of general retirees.
In the opposition, Chadema, we are opposed to this bad practice of weakening pension funds at the expense of workers' rights. Our policy calls for the stabilization of pension funds to protect the rights of workers, including pensioners, "said Ms Bulaya, MP for Bunda. Nzega city deputy Hussein Bashe said that the outcry over the new regulations indicated that Parliament's Social Services Committee was ignored.
"I remember we agreed that the new pension regulations should be formulated as part of a tripartite agreement between the government, the Tanzanian Employers' Association and the workers through their unions. I do not think it was done as agreed, "said the CCM legislator.
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