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Staff applaud new board changes at troubled NSSF - Now call for swift management audit
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
WORKERS at the troubled National Social Security Fund (NSSF) have welcomed new changes in the Board of Trustees of the pensions fund.
Employees of the pensions fund said they were happy with the changes and now hoped a new management team could soon be appointed.
We had no confidence with the outgoing Board of Trustees because it was used as a rubber stamp by management to pass questionable decisions, said one NSSF employee on condition of anonymity.
She added: Everybody at NSSF is happy with the news of the changes of the Board of Trustees ... we now pray that President Jakaya Kikwete will also bring in a new management team to clean up the organization.
The NSSF workers accuse the management of cronyism and called for a swift financial and management audit of the pensions fund.
Some of the people in top management positions were appointed out of favouritism, not merit ? there are positions that require the candidates to have specific qualifications such as a CPA or masters degree, but were given to unqualified people linked to top management or Board of Directors, said another employee at the NSSF headquarters in Dar es Salaam.
Other workers complained that while members of the management team were working under three-year contracts, they were given large long-term loans of up to 15 years by the pensions fund.
How were these long-term loans given to members of the management team working under three-year contracts? Queried one junior staff.
President Jakaya Kikwete this week named the Accountant-General, Ms Blandina Nyoni, the new chairperson of the NSSF Board of Trustees with effect from September 1, this year. The expanded board, which includes more representatives of workers, will serve for the next three years.
Ms Nyoni replaces the Tabora Urban Member of Parliament, Mr Siraju Kaboyonga Juma, as chairperson of the board.
The Accountant-General is seen as a person who could instill new financial discipline at the pensions fund, which has been dogged by an array of allegations, primarily suspect investment deals involving workers savings.
According to a government statement, the Minister for Labour, Employment and Youth Development, Prof. Jumanne Maghembe, has named 11 members of the NSSF Board of Trustees.
The board members, most of them new, will serve under Ms Nyoni.
They include Mr Nicholaus Mbwanji from the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE), Mr Ally Mwinyimvua from the Bank of Tanzania and Mr Nicholas Kingazi from CRDB Bank who jointly represent employers.
The Secretary-General of the Trade Union Confederation of Tanzania (TUCTA), Mr Nestory Ngula, Mr Boniface Nkakatisi from Tanzania Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers (TUICO) and Adelgunda Mgaya of the Researchers, Academicians and Allied Workers Union in Tanzania (RAAWU), were also named to the board, representing the working class.
Other members of the board are Dr Mussa Assad from the University of Dar es Salaams Faculty of Commerce and Management, Ekingo Ekingo from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Member of Parliament Ezekiel Maige and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development.
The NSSF management led by Director-General Dr Ramadhani Dau has been increasingly under fire over controversial deals and facing pressure to invest pensioners money more transparently.
There have been concerns that the management of the fund was not accountable enough to members and apparently putting workers savings into risky ventures.
The NSSF, the countrys single largest pensions fund, has been criticized for putting too much of the workers money in real estate and office accommodation ? and the current management and outgoing Board of Trustees have both been under fire for lending billions of shillings to well-connected businessmen.
The NSSF management and Board of Directors have had a running love affair with businessman Yusuf Manji, through his company, Quality Group Limited. Manjis company was given a loan of 9bn/- by the pensions fund -- which later on went to buy overpriced godowns from the same businessman for a staggering 47.5bn/-.
The governments anti-corruption watchdog, the Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCB) has been investigating the suspect deal between Quality Group Limited and NSSF.
Staff applaud new board changes at troubled NSSF - Now call for swift management audit
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
WORKERS at the troubled National Social Security Fund (NSSF) have welcomed new changes in the Board of Trustees of the pensions fund.
Employees of the pensions fund said they were happy with the changes and now hoped a new management team could soon be appointed.
We had no confidence with the outgoing Board of Trustees because it was used as a rubber stamp by management to pass questionable decisions, said one NSSF employee on condition of anonymity.
She added: Everybody at NSSF is happy with the news of the changes of the Board of Trustees ... we now pray that President Jakaya Kikwete will also bring in a new management team to clean up the organization.
The NSSF workers accuse the management of cronyism and called for a swift financial and management audit of the pensions fund.
Some of the people in top management positions were appointed out of favouritism, not merit ? there are positions that require the candidates to have specific qualifications such as a CPA or masters degree, but were given to unqualified people linked to top management or Board of Directors, said another employee at the NSSF headquarters in Dar es Salaam.
Other workers complained that while members of the management team were working under three-year contracts, they were given large long-term loans of up to 15 years by the pensions fund.
How were these long-term loans given to members of the management team working under three-year contracts? Queried one junior staff.
President Jakaya Kikwete this week named the Accountant-General, Ms Blandina Nyoni, the new chairperson of the NSSF Board of Trustees with effect from September 1, this year. The expanded board, which includes more representatives of workers, will serve for the next three years.
Ms Nyoni replaces the Tabora Urban Member of Parliament, Mr Siraju Kaboyonga Juma, as chairperson of the board.
The Accountant-General is seen as a person who could instill new financial discipline at the pensions fund, which has been dogged by an array of allegations, primarily suspect investment deals involving workers savings.
According to a government statement, the Minister for Labour, Employment and Youth Development, Prof. Jumanne Maghembe, has named 11 members of the NSSF Board of Trustees.
The board members, most of them new, will serve under Ms Nyoni.
They include Mr Nicholaus Mbwanji from the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE), Mr Ally Mwinyimvua from the Bank of Tanzania and Mr Nicholas Kingazi from CRDB Bank who jointly represent employers.
The Secretary-General of the Trade Union Confederation of Tanzania (TUCTA), Mr Nestory Ngula, Mr Boniface Nkakatisi from Tanzania Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers (TUICO) and Adelgunda Mgaya of the Researchers, Academicians and Allied Workers Union in Tanzania (RAAWU), were also named to the board, representing the working class.
Other members of the board are Dr Mussa Assad from the University of Dar es Salaams Faculty of Commerce and Management, Ekingo Ekingo from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Member of Parliament Ezekiel Maige and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development.
The NSSF management led by Director-General Dr Ramadhani Dau has been increasingly under fire over controversial deals and facing pressure to invest pensioners money more transparently.
There have been concerns that the management of the fund was not accountable enough to members and apparently putting workers savings into risky ventures.
The NSSF, the countrys single largest pensions fund, has been criticized for putting too much of the workers money in real estate and office accommodation ? and the current management and outgoing Board of Trustees have both been under fire for lending billions of shillings to well-connected businessmen.
The NSSF management and Board of Directors have had a running love affair with businessman Yusuf Manji, through his company, Quality Group Limited. Manjis company was given a loan of 9bn/- by the pensions fund -- which later on went to buy overpriced godowns from the same businessman for a staggering 47.5bn/-.
The governments anti-corruption watchdog, the Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCB) has been investigating the suspect deal between Quality Group Limited and NSSF.