Penalise councils delaying pension contributions - Pinda
20th January 2011
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Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda
Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda
yesterday ordered the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local
Governments to take action against councils that have not submitted
their employees’ pension contributions to Local Authorities Pension
Funds (LAPF).
Pinda gave the directive during the
official opening of the pension fund annual stakeholders’ conference in
Dar es Salaam yesterday. The fund is owed 3.3bn/- by the councils.
He said there were unnecessary delays in
submitting employees’ contributions which affected them after their
retirement, leading to some losing their lives due to frustrations.
He directed the ministry’s permanent
secretary, Maimuna Tarishi to communicate with the Treasury so that the
outstanding money is deducted from the councils’ budgets and paid into
the fund.
Pinda said by last year, LAPF was owed 7.7bn/-.
“Some of the arrears were submitted and by December last year, the remaining amount stood at 3.3bn/-,” said the Premier.
He stressed: “There is no point for
people who have served this nation for several years to have their
pensions delayed unnecessarily.”
The Prime Minister said there had been
cases of retired workers losing their lives or becoming mentally
affected due to frustrations caused by delayed payment of their
pensions.
In another development, the Premier has
directed LAPF management to present to its members a report on
implementation of previous resolutions.
“You had a meeting of this nature in
Dodoma last year, but you have not told your members what you have
implemented from the resolutions. You need to make your members aware of
how their fund is operating,” he advised.
“If you don’t do this then all such
meetings will be meaningless,” said the PM, who had expected the meeting
to involve employees’ representatives but to his surprise there were
none.
He said: “I expected to see employee
representatives working together with the employer in this meeting, but I
have not seen them here. They are important and have a lot of issues to
contribute as they are the ones facing many of the problems you have
been discussing.”
He warned employers who denied their
employees the right to join pensions funds, stressing that the funds had
been established according to laid down laws.
Pinda asked the management of LAPF and
other investors to also invest in other regions instead of concentrating
on Dar es Salaam, saying the situation has led to a congestion of
people in the country’s commercial city.
For his part, the LAPF Director General,
Eliudi Sanga told the PM that his office was facing a number of
challenges including poor record keeping for its members.
He said: “The delay in submitting employees’ pension contributions and claim forms caused delays in paying them.”
Giving a vote of thanks, Regional
Administration and Local Governments deputy minister Aggrey Mwanri
promised the Prime Minister that his office would work accordingly to
see that all directors who have not submitted pension contributions for
their employees do so.
“Mr Prime Minister this is an order. Since you have spoken, I am going to act accordingly,” he promised.
“Let me tell you directors, that my first
tour will cover Kigoma, Tabora and Mwanza regions. For those directors
who have not submitted the pension contributions had better do so before
my visit,” Mwanri warned.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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