{"id":24031,"date":"2022-08-11T16:30:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T16:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi"},"modified":"2022-08-11T16:38:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T16:38:39","slug":"senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi","title":{"rendered":"Senators seek pension access for former Rwandan workers in Burundi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Senators have said that the current situation is concerning, where Rwandans who worked abroad, mainly in Burundi, are not given pension.<\/p>\n

They hence called for their access to social security.<\/p>\n

The call was made on Wednesday, August 10, as the Senate\u2019s Plenary Sitting approved two senior leaders of the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB), who were appointed by the Cabinet last month. They are Regis Rugemanshuro, the CEO of RSBB, and Louise Kanyonga as the Deputy CEO of RSSB.<\/p>\n

Senator Andr\u00e9 Twahirwa said that the issue of former Rwandan workers abroad has existed for long and should be solved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an issue that concerns many Rwandans who really suffered. We should look for ways to follow up on that issue to be addressed, so that the contributions they made here [for those who later worked in Rwanda] and those they made in Burundi are combined for them to get pension,\u201d Twahirwa said.<\/p>\n

Senator Emmanuel Havugimana said some Rwandans returned late 1994 after working for 15 years in Burundi, and when they reached in Rwanda, they worked for only 10 years and retired [after reaching 65 years, which is the legal retirement age].<\/p>\n

\u201cThose people are not getting any pension benefits in Rwanda because they did not contribute to the pension scheme under the management of RSSB for at least 15 years that are required by the law in Rwanda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them have died after living in extreme poverty; they did not get any pension \u2026 And others aged without receiving pension benefits. This is a sad situation,\u201d he said, calling for ways to help those who are still alive.<\/p>\n

Yet, Havugimana said, Burundi sent the contributions they had paid to its social security plan after an agreement with Rwanda, so that they get pension here.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The New Times, Gerard Karamutsa, 74, said that he worked in Burundi and contributed to the pension scheme there for about 19 years.<\/p>\n

Thus far, he said, for the 1,800 Rwandans who worked in Burundi before they returned home late 1994 after the liberation of Rwanda, access to pension seems denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cLack of access to the due pension is resulting in former workers living miserably, yet they should be leading a decent life thanks to their contribution to the pension scheme,\u201d he said, adding that some of them died living in poor conditions.<\/p>\n

Karamutsa indicated that those Rwandans were promised by the Government the pension benefits after returning home \u2013 provided that they would have contributed to the pension scheme for at least a combined period of 15 years as required by the legislation.<\/p>\n

To that end, he said, the Government of Rwanda negotiated with the Government of Burundi for the latter to send contributions made by the former Rwandan workers to its social security fund [in 2006].<\/p>\n

In January 2011, the former Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) \u2013 current RSSB \u2013 stated that Rwandans who worked with the Burundian civil service would start receiving their pension package by the end of that year.<\/p>\n

And, the Government of Burundi sent to Rwanda in 2013 the contributions of the 1,800 former Rwandan workers amounting to Rwf139 million towards paying their pension benefits, after the negotiation with the Rwandan Government.<\/p>\n

However, some four years later, a decision of the Cabinet meeting dated December 8, 2015 poured cold water on their right to pension as it stated that Rwandans who worked in Burundi will not receive pension, rather, they should only get the contributions they made while working there.<\/p>\n

Apart from denying them access to pension, that decision, according to pensioners, belittles their efforts as the contributions are currently insignificant especially given that the franc\u2019s value and purchasing power declined over time, while the cost of living rose significantly compared to when they made them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to give me back the contributions amounting to Rwf260,000 that I made to the pension scheme in Burundi [for 19 years] since 1975 [until 1994]. That money cannot help me, given the current cost of living,\u201d Karamutsa said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Senators have said that the current situation is concerning, where Rwandans who worked abroad, mainly in Burundi, are not given pension. They hence called for their access to social security. The call was made on Wednesday, August 10, as the Senate\u2019s Plenary Sitting approved two senior leaders of the Rwanda Social Security […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,14],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-24031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nSenators seek pension access for former Rwandan workers in Burundi - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senators have said that the current situation is concerning, where Rwandans who worked abroad, mainly in Burundi, are no ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senators seek pension access for former Rwandan workers in Burundi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senators have said that the current situation is concerning, where Rwandans who worked abroad, mainly in Burundi, are no ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-11T16:30:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-11T16:38:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_8-62f53075f312f.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"941\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Senators seek pension access for former Rwandan workers in Burundi\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-11T16:30:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-11T16:38:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi\"},\"wordCount\":674,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_8-62f53075f312f.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/senators-seek-pension-access-for-former-rwandan-workers-in-burundi\",\"name\":\"Senators seek pension access for former Rwandan workers in Burundi - 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