ZANZIBAR has upped minimum civil servant pension by 120 per cent in a new review announced by treasury. According to Ministry of Finance and Planning, now retirees from public service will earn a uniform 50,000/- increment.
The Finance Minister, Dr Khalid Mohamed,
said the new amount pushed up pension to 90,000/- from 40,000/- per
month. Dr Mohamed said a total of 12,182 pensioners are set to benefit
from the new pension review, with the government set to spend 7.3bn/- in
current financial year on retirees.
"The pension review took longer than
expected, but we're grateful that the government has now approved a
uniform 50,000/- increment for retirees," the minister said. He added
that the government will keep improving pension increment whenever its
financial position improves.
The state is still reviewing monthly
stipend rise for retirees who served in the senior positions, including
directors, permanent secretaries and ministers, noted Dr Mohamed. "We're
yet to finalise a new pension review for retired public servants who
served in more senior positions, want to make sure that we come up with
increments that would reflect the positions they held."
The minister also spoke about
government-funded 20,000/- universal pension offered to older men and
women over the age of 70, saying the scheme has been a huge success.
According to Dr Mohamed about 27,000
people are now receiving universal pension, with the government spending
about 500m/- monthly on the scheme. He said the amount, though
insufficient, is a commendable effort by the government, which is
determined to reduce the suffering of older people across the Island.
"It is a small amount but very crucial
in supporting the older citizens who have hit the 70 years mark and we
should commend President Shein for coming up with this scheme," extolled
Dr Mohamed.
"Many countries would have liked to
introduce such scheme for their people but it has always proved
difficult, we're proud that we have succeeded to implement it, even the
ILO has commended us for this scheme," he added.
Dr Mohamed revealed increased revenue
collections made pension increment and universal pension for older
citizen possible, saying the government doubled its revenues during the
past one year and insisted that people should pay tax to empower the
government.
"It is very important that people pay
tax to enable their government to implement development plans and
improve social services as well as improve the welfare of civil servants
and retirees."
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