By Wlliam Madouk
Ageing civil servants are soon expected to step down after the National Assembly set aside SSP 50 billion in the budget for FY 2023–24 to support the pension fund.
Chairperson of parliamentary committee for finance and economic planning, Changkuoth Bichiok Reth said that enough resources have been allocated to cushion retirement of ageing employees.
“We say this time, the retirement process of the public service should start, and we allocated 50 billion for South Sudan Pension Funds,” Reth said during the 3rd reading of the national budget.
He noted that retiring old civil servants opens doors for recruitment of vibrant youthful force.
“So that our own people retire and the new young men with new blood take over, the pension funds should start the retirement process,” he added.
However, the national minister of Public Service and Human Resource Development, Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro admitted challenges due to lack of a pension scheme in South Sudan.
The minister hinted on mismanagement of collections as one of the major obstacles in administration and failure to establish pension scheme in the country.
“We have challenges with pensions in South Sudan. One is corruption, where pension money is collected but consumed by a few groups of people,” the minister said.
He explained that the state and national governments collect the money but its remittance cannot be traced.
“At the state level, it is consumed and at the national government, it is collected but not remitted to the pension fund,” Bakosoro stressed.
Retirement is the withdrawal from one’s position, occupation, or active working life; where one may also semi-retire by reducing working hours or workload.
Also, many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their job due to health reasons.
People may also retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits.
At a time when elderly people in other countries are enjoying their retirements in their respective countries, drying the sweat of their productive ages; in South Sudan, the notion was different.
The government of South Sudan has not been allocating budget for retirement benefits.
A civil society activist, Mr. Kaunda David James earlier told parliament that the government is now struggling with an aged civil service that cannot be retired due to a lack of pension funds to settle their benefits.
“The old people are not leaving the space for the young ones because there is no pension; they are not leaving the seats,” Kaunda told the house during a public participation budget hearing on July 17.
In some countries, for full pension, a worker must have attained 60 years of age, while early pension is available to workers who have attained the age of 50.
According to the 2018 British Psychology Society study, those who retire and get their pensions are thankful because of the health benefits associated with being free from work-related pressure.
It is stated that retiring from work is beneficial to one’s health because retirees will have more time for exercise and adequate sleep, reducing stress and increasing satisfaction with one’s health.