Finance deputy minister, Janet Mbene

The government has acknowledged that retired civil servants registered under the Private Service Pension Fund (PSPF) have continued receiving less payment for almost two years despite the increase in monthly pensions from 21,601/- to 50,114/- in 2009.

Finance deputy minister Janet Mbene revealed this in Parliament here yesterday when responding to a basic question posed by Mohamed Hamisi Missanga (Singida West, CCM).

The MP had wanted to know why the government had not increased retirees’ pensions to date in accordance with Article number 30 of the Public Service Retirement Act Chapter 371.

Mbene said: “Servants, who retired from July 2004 and being paid by the PSPF continue to receive previous less pensions”.

According to her, after meeting the PSPF administration, a solution was found in which the Ministry of Finance has disbursed a total of 62,192,330,296.99/- to the Fund for paying arrears accumulated between July 2009 and June this year.

“Before paying the arrears, the pension fund verified records of retirees in order to authenticate their claims. Until July 2012, a total of 21,802 out of 29,574 retirees were paid their arrears,” he added.

The deputy minister said that effective July this year, all retirees will continue receiving their pensions in accordance with Government Notice No. 206 of June 29, 2009.