Punish errant employers, says RC

By Zephania Ubwani, The Citizen Reporter
Arusha. Employers who fail to remit monthly contributions of their respective workers to the pension funds should be punished, Arusha regional commissioner Magesa Mulongo says.He warned that the trend caused delays in pension payments and other inconveniences to employees when they retire.
He was closing the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Parastatal Pensions Fund (PPF). The three-day event ended on Friday.
He urged social security institutions to take defaulting employers to court for failure to remit their workers’ contributions.
He said complaints often raised by the retirees on their pension money should end.
He stated that the social security sector was a pillar to the national economy and in poverty reduction. “But what is saddening is that some employers do not remit their workers’ contributions. This trend must come to an end forthwith.”
He suggested legal measures be taken against such companies or institutions, which delay remitting workers’ contributions.
The PPF, which was established through an Act of Parliament in 1978, has  193,347 members, up from 180,049 members late last year and 160,068 in December 2010.
The value of total assets of PPF by end of last year was Sh894.52 billion, a 24 per cent rise from Sh. 722.47 billion in 2010. By June this year, the assets were worth Sh984.99 billion.
The deputy chairman of the PPF Board of Trustees, Dr Aggrey Mlimuka, said other challenges facing the state-owned corporation included the recruitment of more members and increasing terminal benefits for members.
According to him, members of the scheme can now get loans through the savings and credit cooperative societies in their workplaces.
When opening the meeting, deputy Finance minister Saada Mkuya Salum called on PPF to recruit members from the informal sector.
The meeting was informed that the fund had invested Sh837.6 billion in commercial buildings, real estate and construction of training institutions by end of last year.
Revenues accrued from various investment projects rose by over 100 per cent to Sh. 91.38 billion at the end of 2011 from Sh.43.45 billion in December 2010.