Addis Ababa, 07 September 2015 (WIC) – The Public Servants Social Security Agency (PSSSA) says the proclamation which came in to effect since July, 2015 has given employees in government institutions the right to receive pension and the agency is working to make this a reality.
Daba Oriya, the Director of the Agency, today at a consultative forum organized to raise the awareness of implementing institutions at Ras Hotel said the agency going to sue government institutions and public enterprises who do not give the due diligence to organize employee records, deduct pension contributions, and provide the information and the amount collected to the agency on timely basis.
Those who are not willing to organize employee records and present it to the agency will be sued, he stressed. “It is an area we will give due attention in the years to come since our agency is blamed for not properly enforcing it,” he noted.
It will be applicable at the federal or regional level since the administration of pension fund is a task bestowed to the agency in every part of the country,” said Daba while explaining the importance of implementing the proclamation.
Daba noted that in Ethiopia’s case pension contribution and collection is not an optional matter. Rather it a mandatory one. The proclamation clearly specifies who is responsible to pay it and what needs to be fulfilled to collect it, he added.
PSSSA discussed points amended in the new Public Servants’ Pension proclamation with stakeholder in a bid to raise awareness about its applicability. Unlike its predecessor, the new proclamation which came in to effect since July 2015, provides pension schemes for contract employees who have worked for more than 45 days.
Tilahun Bekele, Vice Director of the agency, on his part noted that the new proclamation has filled major gaps witnessed with in the previous proclamation.
The points amended in the new proclamation include the pension schemes for employees who used to work for the private sector and later transferred to a public on or vices versa, it expanded the pension scheme to employees who might leave public service after 10 years of service to have pension payment regularly at retirement age, and it linked the pension payment with health insurance scheme , said Tilahun.
There are more than 1.4 million civil servants in Ethiopia while more than 700 thousand pensioners collecting their payment from 984 payment centers situated in the country. The agency has 76 branch offices in 10 regions and city administrations o0f the country. It has collected 10.6 billion birr in the past budget year while disbursing 3.8 billion birr as pension payment.