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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 is due to huge debts that the government owes to Social Security Fund.
Speaking to the media in Dar es Salaam, SSRA Executive Director Irene Isaka said the government had not borrowed money from social security funds since 2013, after reaching its ceiling of $ 100,000. Borrowing, which accounts for 10% of the total savings of the 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's not true that the new regulations were put in place to cover the funds that were misused and the regulations were put in place to minimize operational costs and to create a level playing field between members. all pension funds, "Isaka said. "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, Ms. Isaka said that 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 ten percent 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.
"We, the opposition Chadema, are opposed to this bad practice of weakening pension funds to the detriment of workers' rights." Our policy calls for the stabilization of pension funds so as to protect the rights of workers , including retirees, "Bulaya said. the deputy of Bunda. Nzega city deputy Hussein Bashe said that the outcry over the new regulations indicated that Parliament's Social Services Committee had been ignored.
"I remember that 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 I do not think it was done as agreed, "said the CCM legislator.
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