It is even harder for the dependents to claim benefits owed to their deceased relatives. Right now the ministry of Public Service has forwarded at least 7,874 pensioners to the Inspector General of Government for investigation after they did not turn up for the validation exercise between June and July last year.
Those suspicious cases of 7,874 pensioners worth Shs 2.65b per month were deleted from the payroll in 2019 because they were doubtable cases. Question is, who has been collecting their pension before the verification exercise was conducted. This case alone, illustrates the inherent vices that have plagued the pension structure over the years.
It is estimated that the government wage bill has over the years increased from Shs 4.2 trillion to Shs 5 trillion. Uganda operates a non-contributory public pension scheme, which is financed from central government treasury.
The public service pension scheme is designed as a benefit where public servants’ pension benefits are indexed on to their salaries for their entire service life. Now the ministry of public service wants to reform this scheme.Â
The minister of Public Service Wilson Mururi Mukasa announced recently that government was to introduce a contributory public service pension scheme.
The minister explained that the new scheme was intended to address governance, accountability and equity problems associated with the current unfunded scheme. The idea of a contributory pension scheme is a fully funded pension scheme that generates adequate funds through certain percentage contributions from monthly earnings by both employee and employer.
And this would apply to all pensionable employees in the public service of the central government, local governments, and tertiary institutions.
However, the minister did not clarify whether the pensionable persons would be entitled to lumpsum payment upon discharge from active service. In the current arrangement, the payment is usually in monthly installments and they are fixed.
Whereas the reforms in the pension sector are needed, they must come with guarantees that this time round pensioners will not be shortchanged.
The reforms need to create pathways that give pensioners relevant tools to engage and participate in the governance and regulation of their pension.
And improvement in how a government delivers pension benefits is only possible if the bureaucrats in this ministry endorse sensible rules and practices that allow for change while making the best use of tested practices. Further any good strategy must be continually monitored and evaluated to make sure it can be easily adapted as situations on the ground change.