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Martin Tarusenga
It was a relief last week to read in this paper that the finance ministry has begun trimming civil service, and that firms are heeding the RBZ Monetary Policy Statement to cut down commodity prices — never mind there were no time-frames set as to how much of civil service will have been trimmed by a given point in time, as would be required in good work ethics.

At least some finance ministry work long overdue is being attended to at last — only it is far too little, considering those operations and services under the charge of the finance ministry that are going wrong (as we are “talking”) and/or are improperly being attended to.

For starters it appears improper to achieve price reductions by persuading suppliers to cut down prices if they see clear scope for price increases.

Rather it is typical for governments to achieve price reductions by setting policies that drive national/economic competitiveness, innovation, and hence increased productivity per given dollar of capital investment in the economy.

But perhaps more glaringly among those things the finance ministry has to do, one year after announcing Government decision to set up a Commission of Inquiry to establish whether pensioners were entitled correct pension benefits by insurance companies, the Commission is still outstanding, and there is no evidence that this truth Commission is being set up in accordance with established principles and practices of transparency.

Just to demonstrate how expediently operations and services are corrected in some environments, a few weeks ago the UK Pensions minister very quickly issued a clear statement that insurance companies should be forced to compensate correctly for pension underpayments made as a result of the insurers’ errors over many years.

In the process he castigated the Financial Conduct Authority for reacting slowly to help pensioners in this regard. The ‘correct compensation’ is set down by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and the courts.

This statement was issued after it emerged that insurance companies were refusing to compensate fairly, customers whose pensions it has underpaid as a result of its own errors.

In a show of zero tolerance for wrong doing, the FOS spokesman reinforced the minister’s statement explaining that no excuses will be tolerated, and stating the laid down rules for such compensation. There is no question that insurance companies will be held to account, as have happened in this environment in the past.

In contrast and in the meanwhile, a number of things continue to go wrong in the pension and insurance service provision in Zimbabwe, and the economy overall, as the finance minister holds back setting the pension Commission of Inquiry.

For instance, right under the minister’s nose, the Commission constitutionally established to ensure pensioners and other subscribers to pension and insurance services are protected, the Insurance and Pension Commission (IPEC), continues to incur huge costs on the national budget despite its dismal failure to execute its public mandate to pensioners, and despite that Government is having to set up the duplicate pension Commission of Inquiry — so much for the minister’s bid to trim civil service.

Valuable scarce financial resources that could be applied elsewhere in the economy are being thrown in the continued failure of IPEC, with the continued delay in setting the pension Commission of Inquiry — soon more resources will be required for this latter Commission of Inquiry, if IPEC remains as is. The continued delay in setting up the pension Commission means that many pensioners and subscribers, that now call on their pensioner organisations (instead of on IPEC)are deprived of their rightful pension benefits — many are sick, some die, as the delay continues.

In the meantime insurance companies and other pension administrators have a field day looting the pension and insurance funds — large scale externalisation and embezzlement using creative accounting is apparent and on-going, as the minister delays setting up the Commission of Inquiry.

In good policies and practices of setting truth Commissions, it is advisable for the finance minister to absolve or suspend IPEC from anything to do with setting this pension Commission — this to the extent it has failed and to the extent it is working against pensioners.

In good policies and practices of managing redundancy, it is advisable for the finance minister to urgently consider the apparent failures and redundancy at IPEC, and prioritise laying of civil servants herein accordingly, thereby saving the national budget. In good practices of institutional reorganisation, it is advisable for the minister to earmark the pending Commission of Inquiry for the execution of the mandate that IPEC has failed to execute, and to identify resources from those institutions evidently taking the place of IPEC, given the latter’s apparent dismal failure. It is hoped that the finance minister’s next budget will reflect reasonable progress and achievements in this regard.

Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not represent those of the organisations that the author represent.

 Martin Tarusenga is General Manager of Zimbabwe Pensions & Insurance Rights, email, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>; telephone; +263 (0)4 883057; Mobile; +263 (0)772 889 716