Pension: Mrs Mukiibi doesn’t know the actual problem!

Oct 07, 2001

SIR—I agree with the state minister in charge of pensions Benigna Mukiibi’s statement in The New Vision of September 27 that “sh103b is needed for pension arrears”.

SIR—I agree with the state minister in charge of pensions Benigna Mukiibi’s statement in The New Vision of September 27 that “sh103b is needed for pension arrears”. However, Mrs Mukiibi cannot be exonerated from blame. Her officials have contributed greatly to her problems. I have specific cases of old people 70-80 years of age in my district who have been deleted from the payroll yet they have been getting their pension! I am beginning to doubt Mukiibi’s competence if she asserts that there is media misinformation on pension matters. It is her who is not informed. Her officials in the pension department have sent away senior citizens who have been getting their pension from October last year, because according to the officials, these elderly people are “ghosts”. This is on record! Without exaggeration the pension department is in a mess; the sooner it is restructured, the better. For instance, even those on the payroll are getting inconsistent pay: in one month they get sh10,000, in another they get 300,000. Doesn’t the pension department have a specific standard of payment for these pensioners? This in itself speaks volumes about the pension department. Of course I agree with Hon Mukiibi that the transfer of 10,000 teachers from the ministry of education to public service and the 3,000 workers of former East African Community has indeed complicated matters for her. Nevertheless, she has no defence whatsoever to those pensioners who have been getting their pension as late as December last year but who have now been deleted from payroll on the grounds that they are “ghosts”! A ‘ghost’ person cannot keep climbing the stairs of the pensions building in search of her or his file. The pensioners know exactly what is going on and these uninformed defensive statements simply annoy them. I would suggest to Hon Mukiibi the following :- 1. Decentralise the pension scheme to districts. 2. A department, self-accounting should be created to cater for pensioners. 3. A suggestion desk should be set up at the ministry headquarters. 4. A separate office to deal with those who have been deleted should be set to receive similar complaints upcountry. 5. New pensioners should be given their own office. This pension crisis should be brought to an end, our old people are suffering unnecessarily. E.F. Kahuma Fort Portal

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