Africa-Press – Tanzania. ZANZIBAR President Dr Hussein Mwinyi yesterday appointed Land and Human Settlement Development ministry’s three directors and the Government’s Chief Valuer.
Chief Secretary Engineer Zena Said, in a statement issued here yesterday, named the appointees as Mr Muchi Juma Ameir whom the president has picked to head the Urban and Rural Planning directorate and Mr Juma Ameir Mgeni as Director of Survey and Mapping.
President Mwinyi, according to the statement, also picked Ms Khamisuu Hamid Mohammed as the Director of Operations and Personnel in the ministry, with Mr Tahir Mussa Omar becoming the new Government Chief Valuer.
Meanwhile, President Hussein Mwinyi’s directive to Zanzibar Social Security Fund (ZSSF) to boost the social-economic utility is beginning to pay off, as the fund is contemplating introduction of health insurance scheme.
ZSSF Managing Director Nassor Shaaban Ameir told the ‘Daily News’ here yesterday that the fund was also planning to construct low cost houses to benefit all islanders.
Mr Ameir said ZSSF was committed to implement President Mwinyi’s directives on boosting the fund’s social-economic utility.
Besides the health insurance and low cost houses, President Mwinyi has also tasked the pension fund to take its services close to the people. Currently, ZSSF operates from its Kilimani-based headquarters in Unguja.
“We will soon open an office in Unguja South before expanding to other regions—both in Unguja and Pemba,” said Mr Ameir, hinting that ZSSF and Zanzibar Revenue Board (ZRB) have secured land for construction of a joint sub-office at Kitogani village in Unguja South.
The newly appointed Chief Executive Officer said ZSSF’s new focus is to safely and profitably invest members’ contributions.
“We want to strengthen our planning and research unit towards highly productive and diversified investment of members’ money,” he said, citing money markets—treasury bills, treasury bonds and corporate bonds—as well as real estate as the priority investment areas.
The fund also eyes construction of commuter bus stands and markets through collaboration with the municipal and district councils, Mr Ameir said, further noting that ZSSF is exploring emerging investment opportunities in the government-spearheaded blue economy.
”We are ready to participate in the blue economy, which we perceive as our special penetration strategy; the sector is highly profitable,” he said.
ZSSF is one of Zanzibar’s top native investors, having injected over 540bn/- in the economy as of March 2021.
The money, according to the chief executive, has been invested in commercial banks, corporate bonds, treasury bonds, real estate, shares, loans to the central government and various institutions.
Mr Ameir said the fund management was planning to sustain and diversify its investments, focusing on projects with high yields to ensure the pension fund remains liquid.
“We will work closely with institutions and investors in small industrial projects with the aim of uplifting small entrepreneurs,” he said.
He noted ZSSF would maintain its key objective of availing decent and competitive payments to its members. In the 2020/2021 fiscal year, the fund disbursed 21.7bn/- as pension payments to 1,441 members, recording a 115 per cent of its target to pay 19.5bn/- to 1,250 members.
The fund had projected to spend 10.6bn/- on 9,000 pensioners but ended up disbursing 15.3bn/- on 10,322 pensioners. The ZSSF chief attributed the increase to surging number of voluntary retirees.
