RSSB overshoots target by Rwf2.5b

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•  Murekezi (L), welcomes Prime Minister Habumuremyi to King Faisal Hospital as Binagwaho, and Dr. Alex Butera, the facility’s CEO look on. The New Times/Timothy Kisambira.
• By Ivan R. Mugisha
• February 18, 2013

Over Rwf39.4b was collected by the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) in the first semester of 2012/2013 financial year, a feat attributed to increased in compliance from both private and public entities.

This was Rwf2.5b above the targeted collections over the period. The pension body had targeted Rwf36.9b collections over the first half of the financial year, from July to December 2012.

The board collected Rwf33.09b over the same period in the 2011/2012 financial year, with new registered employers and employees at 4,347 and 36,246 respectively.

The resounding performance stems from a higher registration of employers in the body’s pension and medical schemes since the merger between the former Social Security Fund of Rwanda and Rwanda Medical Insurance Company in 2011.

“The newly registered employers in the pension scheme during the period under review were 5,050, against a target of 4,750. We also registered a total of 43,935 new employees,” Moses Kazoora, the RSSB public relations and communications unit director, said.

Kazoora added that the registered number of new members in the medical scheme was 19,826, which was almost double the projected figure of 10,000 new members.

He said RSSB paid benefits amounting to Rwf10.1b to both pension and medical claims over the period, which was an increase compared to the same period of last financial year, where benefits paid amounted to Rwf8.1b.

Kazoora said the body was urging more entities to register for social security, adding that they projected Rwf40.62b collections in the second half of the 2012/2013 financial year.

“Companies are currently undergoing auditing processes to ascertain their level of compliance as regards to registering pension and health benefits for their employees with the board,” Kazoora added.

Available statistics from the body indicate that by 2011, close to 40 per cent of Rwanda’s businesses did not pay monthly contributions to the body as required by law,  a situation that left several citizens’ accounts empty on retirement.

To solve the problem, the body introduced a tracking system that identifies defaulters and takes appropriate action, including slapping them with fines of up to three per cent on each unpaid month, as well as auctioning their property, if the problem persists.

RSSB has spent over 30 per cent of the monies collected, equivalent to Rwf94.4b on its investment portfolio, with real estate development as the major project.

Contact email: ivan.mugisha[at]newtimes.co.rw