Zanzibar raises retiree pensions by 120 per cent

ABDALLAH MSUYA in Zanzibar

ZANZIBAR has upped minimum civil servant pension by 120 per cent in a new review announced by treasury. According to Ministry of Finance and Planning, now retirees from public service will earn a uniform 50,000/- increment.

The Finance Minister, Dr Khalid Mohamed, said the new amount pushed up pension to 90,000/- from 40,000/- per month. Dr Mohamed said a total of 12,182 pensioners are set to benefit from the new pension review, with the government set to spend 7.3bn/- in current financial year on retirees.

"The pension review took longer than expected, but we're grateful that the government has now approved a uniform 50,000/- increment for retirees," the minister said. He added that the government will keep improving pension increment whenever its financial position improves.

The state is still reviewing monthly stipend rise for retirees who served in the senior positions, including directors, permanent secretaries and ministers, noted Dr Mohamed. "We're yet to finalise a new pension review for retired public servants who served in more senior positions, want to make sure that we come up with increments that would reflect the positions they held."

The minister also spoke about government-funded 20,000/- universal pension offered to older men and women over the age of 70, saying the scheme has been a huge success.

According to Dr Mohamed about 27,000 people are now receiving universal pension, with the government spending about 500m/- monthly on the scheme. He said the amount, though insufficient, is a commendable effort by the government, which is determined to reduce the suffering of older people across the Island.

"It is a small amount but very crucial in supporting the older citizens who have hit the 70 years mark and we should commend President Shein for coming up with this scheme," extolled Dr Mohamed.

"Many countries would have liked to introduce such scheme for their people but it has always proved difficult, we're proud that we have succeeded to implement it, even the ILO has commended us for this scheme," he added.

Dr Mohamed revealed increased revenue collections made pension increment and universal pension for older citizen possible, saying the government doubled its revenues during the past one year and insisted that people should pay tax to empower the government.

"It is very important that people pay tax to enable their government to implement development plans and improve social services as well as improve the welfare of civil servants and retirees."