HakiPensheni

Penalise councils delaying pension contributions - Pinda

By Dominic Nkolimwa

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