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SSRA: Social security funds want their laws amended first

By Joseph Mchekadona

8th March 2011

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The Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA) has said all the six Social Security Funds in the country have sought request from the regulatory body to continue using their current laws while waiting for amendments to recognise the existence of the new authority.

SSRA chairman Juma Siraju Kaboyonga said this in Dar es Salaam last week at a meeting organised by the authority to share ideas between the authority and the social security funds.

He said SSRA at the meeting proposed that security funds laws must change to create a harmonious climate between them and the authority, but the funds asked for time to amend their laws.

“We had a good meeting with all the six social security funds and we proposed to them that they change the SSRA law, but they asked for more time to start amending theirs,” he said.

Kaboyonga said SSRA agreed that the actual valuation on how the social security funds can operate should be done before the existing ones.

He named the funds that attended as National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Parastatal Pensions Fund (PPF), Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), Public Sector Pension Fund (PSPF), Local Authority Pension Fund (LAPF) and National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF)

The meeting between the two organisations was organised amid allegations that some of the funds are investing in unviable projects, lending to non-members and taking overly long to issue members’ benefits.

So far some social security funds have invested in investments which they claim give high returns and also improve the public’s welfare.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN