Saturnia: Govt inertia slammed

Mon, 26 Feb 2018 09:22:11 +0000

By BENNIE MUNDANDO

GOVERNMENT inertia in clamping down on individuals toying with retirees’ lives by engaging in illicit activities over the running of the Saturnia Regna Pension Fund is too much and we now demand for decisive action to be taken, the Evangelical Youth Alliance (EYA) has demanded.

And Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) leader Wright Musoma has expressed shock that some elements at the pension fund had the audacity to hound out their chairperson, Doreen Kabunda, for demanding accountability and good corporate governance after causing so much misery among pensioners, some of whom have died without receiving their dues.

Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, EYA executive director Moses Lungu said his organisation was elated by the appointment of Ms Margaret Mwanakatwe as new Minister of Finance but warned that the first task it expected her to do was to ensure that she dismantled the cartel in the administration of pension trusts.

Rev. Lungu said the lacklustre attitude to the plight of retirees’ exhibited by Government so far was counter-productive.

He added that time to end the mess that had been created was now by ensuring that all those who had a hand in illegally externalising funds and investing in offshore accounts were brought to book.

“In May last year, then Finance Minister, Felix Mutati directed the Pensions and Insurance Authori-ty (PIA) to appoint an independent auditor to assess the financial and operational governance of Saturnia within 30 days.

“But it is now almost a year now and the audit report is still at large. Mr. Mutati and the PIA failed to give the nation an update on how far the audit had gone and that tells you a lot about govern-ment inertia to act either purposefully or inadvertently.” And ZRP leader Wright Musoma said he was shocked that the same people who had committed atrocities against pensioners were now out to purge everyone who was acting in the best interest of retirees and Government while State investigative wings watched.

Mr Musoma said it was time the Saturnia issue was concluded “so that people can account for their wrongdoing.”