Civil servants for pension scheme reversal

Some civil servants under the contributory pension scheme have engaged Parliament seeking an amendment to the law to allow affected employees to return to the previous pension arrangement.

The concerned civil servants argue that the move is necessary because of worries over government’s remittance of pension contributions and the adequacy of retirement benefits under the contributory scheme.

Kamwendo (L) briefs the Speaker during the meeting. | Eric Mtemang’ombe

The group’s chairperson Frank Kamwendo said in an interview yesterday that they had engaged the Speaker of the National Assembly Sameer Suleman because reversing the current arrangement would require legislative changes.

“We have engaged the Speaker on inefficiencies, all those issues that are affecting civil servants who are on the Contributory Pension Scheme,” he said.

The group alleges that government has not consistently remitted its 10 percent employer contribution while projected benefits for some long-serving employees are inadequate to provide financial security after retirement.

Kamwendo said the Speaker indicated that the concerns would first be subjected to a fact-finding process before further action is considered.

The Speaker did not grant an interview after the meeting at Parliament.

In a separate interview, Civil Servants Trade Union (CSTU) president Lameck Magawa acknowledged challenges with government remittances, but stopped short of supporting the proposed return to the previous scheme.

The contributory arrangement was introduced in 2017 and, according to CSTU, applies to civil servants born from July 1 1982 and those subsequently recruited into the public service. Older employees remained under the previous defined-benefit arrangement.

The reform shifted eligible workers from a system in which government bears responsibility for predetermined retirement benefits to one in which pension benefits are built from employee and employer contributions and investment returns.

The arrangement sought to make pension provision more sustainable while accumulating funds for employees’ retirement.