23rd July 2012
Gratius Mukoba, Tanzania Teachers Union president
There is growing concern
over recent amendments to legislation on social security that
effectively bar employees from enjoying their benefits before they reach
retirement age.
Most people airing their views online,
through a popular network, argue that the changes to the law benefit the
government at the expense of deserving social security scheme members.
They say the government borrows hefty
amounts of money from social security funds but does not repay it in
good time, and hence the delays in making requisite payments to eligible
retirees.
Tanzania Teachers Union president Gratius
Mukoba suggested in a phone interview yesterday that the government
routinely takes money from social security funds for investment in
long-term projects.
“Social security funds are playing with
workers’ money…,” complained Mukoba, adding that some of the projects
take up to 100 years before the returns trickle back.
“Look at the Machinga Complex in Dar es
Salaam, he said, adding: “The government, through the National Social
Security Fund (NSSF), invested 31bn/-. With that money, one could
construct six Mwalimu Towers.
Legal and Human Rights Centre executive
director Dr Hellen Kijo-Bisimba meanwhile said she was convinced that
the law as amended would not work “since most employment is on contract
basis anyway”.
She said there was little difference
between the law as it now stands and the one previously in use which
allowed employees to enjoy their benefits before retirement and which
she said was much better because it allowed them to invest their money
in projects of their choice before they retired.
“This law humiliates workers. I have
already received complaints from people in Geita and from my voters in
Nzega,” said Nzega Member of Parliament Dr Hamis Kigwangala.
He said he had telephoned the minister who
oversees security funds, Gaudensia Kabaka, “who said the amendments
were tabled in Parliament back in April and endorsed and are now
awaiting presidential assent”.
According to the MP, Kabaka explained that
the government did not intend to give social security fund members a
raw deal but amended the law “to prevent frequent withdrawals that tend
to leave security schemes short of funds”.
\“The minister stated that the government
would have the opportunity to express its good intentions when employees
lose jobs and need the funds from their social security accounts,”
noted the MP.
He promised to work on the concerns of the
aggrieved workers “and everything will be settled before the Labour
ministry’s budget estimates are tabled next month”.
Social Security Regulatory Authority
(SSRA) director general Irene Isaka said in communication to African
Barrick Gold that laws on social security funds and laws guiding
authorities were amended and approved by the National Assembly on April
13, 2012 and sent to the President’s Office for presidential assent. The
withdrawal benefits that benefit workers who opt to quit their jobs
have been cancelled until the retirement age of 55 years and 60 years,
explained the letter.
“We still have some benefits that remain
for miners such as, that on disability and the injury,” she reassured
the miners, promising that SSRA officials would visit mining workers
across Tanzania in the first week of next month to elaborate the changes
and what should be expected.
Section 30 of the Social Security
Regulatory Authority Act No.8 of 2008 requires all employers to give
newly engaged employees the opportunity to join a social security fund
of their choice.
The amendments open the doors for
competition in membership registration and additional products are
offered as stated by the ILO Convention 102.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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