{UAH} Ministers explains underage pensioners

5th December 2013

Sunday Monitor of 1st December 2013 ran a story alleging that
government has paid 70 bn to ghost pensioners again. The paper is
quoting a new inquiry by police CIID concerning suspicious accounts of
"young pensioners" between the ages of 25 – 35 years in Crane Bank.
The said suspicion was raised by the General Manager of Crane Bank
S.K. Bablani in a letter to the Ministry of Public Service. According
to the letter, the bank queried the account holders who appeared to be
too young to be genuine pensioners.

On 20th November, 2013, the Ag. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Public Service, replied to the bank explaining how "Under age"
pensioners arise. This is therefore to explain to all stake holders
and the entire public that according to the (Uganda Public Service
Standing Orders) 2010, young pensioners come as a result of the
following:-

1. Abolition of Office – when an office is abolished, the employee is
retired and is entitled to pension.

2. Retrenchment – Any officer who is retrenched is eligible to receive
pension regardless of the age of the beneficiary. The majority here
are veterans from the Army.

3. Retirement on Medical grounds – Officers retired on Medical
grounds, automatically qualify for pension.

4. Voluntary retirement – Civil Servants are free to apply to the
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Service to retire early
before the mandatory age of 60 years. If allowed, they become
pensioners.

5. Holders of Estate accounts of the deceased - When a Public Officer
dies the next of kin which may include the children and dependants
are entitled to receive death gratuity and any other survivor's
benefits.

6. Beneficiaries from Ministry of Defence like widows, orphans,
widowers and relatives of a deceased Military Officer also receive
survivor's benefits regardless of the age. This constitutes the
biggest number of under age beneficiaries.

7. Retirement on marriage grounds – a female officer having served for
a minimum of five years can retire on marriage grounds and will
receive pension regardless of how old she may be.

From the above explanation, it is not true that beneficiaries who are
aged between 25 – 35 years are automatically ghosts. The above
notwithstanding, the Ministry of Public Service is undertaking a
rigorous Pension Payroll Cleaning and verification exercise which when
completed will restore confidence of all stakeholders about the entire
pension payment process. Meanwhile, the Ministry reiterates its
commitment in principle to serve all pensioners in a timely manner.
All payments now have to go through a pre-audit system to ascertain
that the right amount of money is paid to the right beneficiaries and
on time.

The Ministry also regrets the inconveniences caused to the genuine
pensioners (widows, survivors, orphans and other dependants) whose
payments were withheld by Crane Bank on the basis of their age even
after the explanation by the Ag. Permanent Secretary. It should be
noted that the young beneficiaries are not Limited to Crane Bank
alone, but are also in other banks.

Hon. Prisca Sezi Mbaguta
Minister of State for Public Service
Ministry of Public Service

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