Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has directed the pension funds to avoid asking retirees to produce supporting documents when they apply for their benefits, saying the duty of finding documents lies upon an employer and the pension schemes.
Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled), Jenista Mhagama, made statement here in the House.
The minister said the government had noticed that retirees have been disturbed when seeking their benefits especially when the schemes ask them to bring documents for their employment details.
“We have directed the social schemes to stop this, and I ask the MPs to report if they see any retiree facing such disturbance,” she stressed.
Her statement came after Deputy Speaker Tulia Ackson raised a concern that such tendency of asking employment information from retirees was not proper.
“If the scheme has, for years, been receiving contributions from a particular retiree why then asking him or her employment details…I think the law and regulations need to be reviewed,” she said.
Earlier, in her basic question, Special-Seats MP Amina Hassan (CCM) asked as to when the government would address a chronic problem of delays in payment of retirement benefits to retirees who are members of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
When answering, Deputy Minister, Mr Patrobass Katambi said the government has been ensuring that all retirees were paid their benefits according to the laws governing the pension funds in the country.
He informed that for a retiree to get benefits he or she must meet requirements including reaching retirement age of minimum 55 and maximum 60 years and have contributed to the pension scheme for a period not less than 180 months or 15 years.
Mr Katambi told Parliament that all retirees under the NSSF who meet requirements have been paid their benefits in time without delays.
“After retirees have presented request for payment and required documents, they get paid within 30 days…and monthly pension is paid on every 25th and currently there is no any arrears for retirees. From July 2020 to March 2021 a total of 93,861 retirees were paid benefits amounting to 377.8bn/-.
“We therefore call upon employers to submit members’ contributions on time and urge the retirees to ensure they submit all documents required to enable the pension schemes pay the benefits in time and avoid delays in preparing retirement benefits,” he added.
