Parliament sitting on Wednesday passed the long awaited National Social Security Fund (NSSF) bill allowing midterm access of members to their benefits.
According to a passed bill, members above the age of 45yrs who have saved with the fund for a period not less than 10 yrs will be eligible to access 20% of their savings.
Hon. Agnes Kunihira, the chairperson of the Joint Committee of Gender and Finance said parliament passed the bill with clause 10 that grants midterm access of members to their savings.
The clause further rants eligibility to any disabled member of the fund who has lost his/her job to access a maximum of 75% part of their savings.
Clause 13 which gives government a leeway for the mandatory borrowing of money from the fund has according to workers MP Sam Lyomoki been eliminated from the bill.
Under the passed bill, the two ministries; Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development and Ministry of Finance are mandated to manage the operations of the National Social Security Fund.
It should be noted that for the past two years, there has been tensions between Parliament and the executive over the NSSF amendment bill,2019.
However, the passing of the bill by legislators seems a sigh of relief both to the fund members and government.
Photo Credit: FP.
