Unprofitable entities risk scrap

From NELLY MTEMA in Dodoma

PUBLIC entities operating commercially have to contribute at least 1tri/- to the government coffers by next fiscal year or risk deregistration.

The Parliamentary Public Investments Committee Chairman, Mr Raphael Chegeni said failure to raise the amount, a proposal will be made to deregister the organisations. Mr Chegeni was briefing
reporters after the committee met the pension funds over the weekend, insisting that the money should be raised to support the government in 2018/19 budget.
He said the committee has summoned the Treasury Registrar in the next two weeks to present a strategic plan on how to raise the amount. “The government has 270 entities, with 160 of them noncommercial... the rest in which the government has sharescontributed only 885.6bn/- last year, this is not enough,” said the chairman. Mr Chegeni said the committee believes that public institutions are duty bound to contribute dearly because the government has spent over 48tri/- as investment in the entities and that it’s time to earn the return on investment.
“All commercial public institutions must deliver and the return on investment is a must, for those failing to meet the target, we think they do not deserve existence, we will propose their deregistration,” he said. He also advised the government to establish an Empowerment Fund to support public institutions with capital as others fail to deliver fully due to lack of resources.
The chairman reminded the government to see into the possibility of facilitating the Treasury Registrar office with substantive management as opposed to the current situation where majorities are on acting basis. As for the merge of the pension funds, Mr Chegeni said, they have summoned Bank of Tanzania (BOT), Treasury Registrar, Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA) and the five pension’s funds, PPF, NSSF, GEPF, LAPF and PSPF for smooth transition come July 1, this year.
He said the committee will not hesitate to take action against any pension fund delaying the process or failing to cope with the needed pace. “We want to ensure smooth transition and at the same time offering uninterrupted services to beneficiaries,” he assured.
Last year, the government tabled in parliament a bill for merging five pension funds effective July 1, 2018. Under the envisaged Public Service Social Security Fund Act, the Public Service Social Security Fund (PSSSF) and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) will be formed to cater for the public and private sectors, respectively.