A grouping known as Young Concerned Civil Servants has resurfaced calls for government to abolish a Contributory Pension Scheme which came into effect in 2017.
Speaking to MIJ Online, Chairperson of the grouping Samuel Chaoloka has said their latest call comes in the wake of a view that the law is rather discriminatory more especially to people below 35 years to benefit.
‘’For the record, we are against this contributory pension scheme. It is not good. Why is it that it does not include everyone to benefit. We want government to remove this pension scheme. Throughout the years, we have felt that government missed a very important step. It could consult the civil servants and hear their views before start implementing this scheme. We were not consulted but rather forced into the scheme,” he said,” said Chaoloka.
According to Chaoloka, so far, they are taking solace in the fact that they have before consulted the Malawi Congress of Trade Union (MCTU), and other stakeholders with the courts currently looking into the matter.
He urged government to only use one Defined Benefit (DB) type of pension scheme which he said is not discriminatory in nature.
Under the Contributory Pension, an employee contributes a minimum of 5% of the pensionable emoluments while the employer contributes at least 10% of the employee’s pensionable emoluments.
Contributions by the employer are tax deductible up to a maximum of 15% of the employee’s pensionable emoluments while those made by the employee are not.
Source: MIJ
