info@psptf.mw | P.O. Box 30146, City centre, Lilongwe
By Our Reporter
As the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has come to stay in the public service, we talked to some of the members of the scheme in the public service including those on the old scheme.
Dorica Musopole- Teacher: Nachiwe Primary School in Chitipa
She regrets to have born earlier as the new scheme is good with prospects of bumper yield.
“If it were for me to choose, I would have rushed to the district council today to have my name registered to the new pension scheme. I envy these younger colleagues. For us in the old system, not only that we can’t beat their pension package but also we have to wait for months if we are lucky otherwise people clock years to get their pension done,” she says.
Agnes Kamunga- Clinician: Mchinji District Hospital
She laments the fact that the scheme is not revolutionalised as anticipated. Her central concern is that there has never been consultation on the modalities to roll the CPS out.
She insists: “as critical players in the whole arrangement, we should not have been the last to be reached out.” She feels the new pension scheme would have considered reducing the 60-year mark.
Douglas Moffat- District Commissioner: Nsanje
He is all positive about the new scheme, and wishes he were in it.
“It is an investment worthwhile, and also an insurance of one’s retirement. When we are working, we have a lifestyle which is sustained by the money we earn. The fear we have as old timers is that we are not sure we will sustain it with our pension earnings. But with the new scheme, the package is attractive as the PSPTF invest it and it generates some interests which are ploughed back to the contributors’ pension accounts,” he pontificates.
Tedius Makosana- Anesthetist at Mwanza District Hospital
As a member of the CPS, he deplores information gaps regarding the roll out strategy of the scheme.
“We were supposed to agree on common grounds. For instance, what happens to the period we worked before July 2017? We also needed to work out on some rules of engagement and even on how much to contribute. How did they arrive at 5%? This is something some of us do not appreciate? If I were to be asked on how much I would prefer to contribute, then I would opt for an increase,” he argues.
Mabvuto Kaonga-Administrator: Mangochi District Council
“I am not in this new scheme but what strikes me most as exceptional is the issue of nominating beneficiaries. Our old one leaves such mandate in the hands of the district council to decide who should get what. Sometimes, undeserving individuals find their way on the list of beneficiaries and it is unfair,” he laments.