Tuesday 26 March 2013
Ndumbaro briefs journalists on the technical committee which statrted in Dar yesterday
A SARA Technical Committee organised by TAZARA opens in Dar es Salaam
By
Nasser
Kigwangallah, DAR ES SALAAM
A
Technical Committee meeting of Southern Africa Railways Association (SARA) has
opened up in Dar es Salaam.
The
two day meeting aims at finding a lasting solution to railway transport which
has engulfed the region for some time now.
The
meeting held at Peacock Hotel in the heart of the city yesterday was
inaugurated by Damas Ndumbaro, the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA)
Deputy Managing Director.
In
his opening remarks, the deputy managing director said Tazara has been privileged
to host such a meeting on behalf of other member states.
“The
participants, who are rail experts, have been drawn from SADC countries that
use rail as their means of transport. These countries are Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the host country Tanzania,” he said.
According
to him, the main objective of the meeting is to reach a common goal of rail
operations so that trains could move to any part of SADC country without
hindrance.
Mr.
Ndumbaro remarked: “We have on a number of occasions, seen a tourist train
coming to Dar es Salaam from South Africa.”
He
added that ‘we want such trains to be many in the near future so as to serve
our people in a more befitting manner.’
He
said that is why these experts are meeting for a two day meeting in Dar es
Salaam to arrive at that end.
Sunday 17 March 2013
Public Service Pensions Fund organises the 2nd Stakeholders' and Annual General Meeting in Dar es Salaam
THE PUBLIC SERVICE PENSIONS FUND (PSPF) held its 2nd Annual
Stakeholders’ Meeting from 07th to 08th March 2013, at the JB Belmont Conference
Centre located at 6th floor Parking Arcade, PSPF – Golden Jubilee Towers, in
Dar es Salaam.
The objective of the meeting was to present PSPF
performance report to stakeholders and share ideas on how to strengthen the
Fund and also challenges facing the Fund and social security industry in
general.
Officially opening the meeting, the Vice President Dr. Mohammed
Gharib Bilal exorted the management of the Fund and the informal sectors in general
to increase the number of existing pensioners.
He says a major challenge facing the public pension
funds was a small number of pensioners, which comprised 15 per cent of all
employees.
“The government through Social Security Regulatory
Authority (SSRA) should initiate a process to allow public pension funds to
allow so that more members from informal sectors join the Fund to increase the
scope of pensioners,” says the Vice President.
On his part, the Chairman of PSPF Board members, Mr
George Yambe, says the Fund was nearing completion of the phase I of the 641
houses project in five regions, saying the houses would be sold to the PSPF
members.
"We have partnered with several banks to provide
our members with loans to afford buying the houses,” he reveals.
He also points out that the profits had increased from
36.45 billion/- in 2000 to Tshs 1.09 trn as at 30th June, 2012.
This surplus came from contributions from members,
investment income and others sources.
He says the Fund was in talks with the National Housing
Corporation (NHC) in order to construct houses for the PSPF members.
According to him, the project would benefit members at
the district levels hence overcome the problem better residence.
Mr Adam Mayingu, who is the acting PSPF Director
General, says the number of pensioners had increased by 59 per cent from 196,150
to 311,668 members between 1999 and June 2012.
However, he says the Fund faced a number of challenges
including lack of education among employers and the employees on their
responsibility to keep the records for the pensioners.
“This challenge has delayed payment of pensions to its
members on time after retirement,” he points out.
PSPF was created by an Act of Parliament; the Public
Service Retirement Benefits Act No. 2 of 1999 to replace the Pension
Ordinance Cap 371 of 1954.
The Fund was formed as an autonomous Public institution
under the management of the Board of Trustees which became operational n July
1999.
It is a contributory pension scheme covering employees
of the Central Government and its Executive Agencies, whose terms of employment
are permanent and pensionable.
The management of the Fund is vested in the Board of
Trustees and the day to day activities are under the Director General who is
assisted by Directors and Managers.
“Our Vision is to be the provider of choice of social
security services in the country,” says Adam Mayingu in an interview after the
meeting.
The Fund’s mission is to provide competitive Social
Security Services to its members using dedicated staff and appropriate technology,
to provide services to its members and the general public while observing the
following: accountability and responsibility; integrity and diligence; creativity; promptness and responsiveness.
The scheme is run as a Defined Benefit (DB) pension and
provides the following products for its members and their dependants:
Retirement annuities, death benefits, disability benefits
and other pension related benefits.
At the moment the Fund membership profile consists of
about 35,000 live (contributing) members, 5,000 pensioners and some 18,000
dependants (spouses and children).
It is fully administered in-house and financed through
employer and employee contributions of 15% and 5% of monthly salary
respectively.
The Fund's gross reserves have seen significant growth
over the years, reaching a level of about E 10.6 billion by March 2011 with a large
proportion of income accruing from a diversified investment portfolio both in
local and external markets.
The funding level decreased from the previous year's
level resulting from the increased numbers of pensioners and dependants as well
as the impairement of receivable contribuitons to reach 79.3%.
The PSPF is governed by an appointed Board of Trustees
representing in equal proportion, the Employer and the Employees. With the chairman,
4 employer representatives, 5 employee (Member) representatives, the CEO
(Ex-officio member).
Principal responsibilities and functions of the Board
of Trustees of PSPF are to supervise the operations and management of the Fund,
direct the financing and financial position of the Fund, decides on investments
of the Fund's asset on the advice of the Investment committee.
The Fund is managed by an executive team headed by a
Chief Executive who is appointed by the Minister in consultation with the Board.
The other managerial positions are appointed by the
Board.
Mr Mayingu says:
“We intend to be a regional model for the provision of comprehensive social
security services and to provide a portfolio of social security services to
members in a sustainable, progressive and ethical manner.”
He says honesty that is working in sincerity,
truthfulness, integrity and in the open are our major core values.
Our Fund believes in equality, which is to treat each
colleague and customer fairly, impartially and equally without discriminating
by gender, religion, age or individual’s social inclination and embracing
strength in diversity.
Dealing fully above board in a responsible and open
manner, assuming all liability and answerability for individual and collective
actions and offering service of superior quality and value with a high degree
of excellence, considered of worth by its recipients.
Adam Mayingu, the Acting Director General of the
Public Servants Pensions Fund (PSPF).
Mr Mayingu is a seasoned IT specialist who has accumulated over
20 years wealth of experience working in the financial sector of both private
and public sectors mainly in ICT, Knowledge Management, leadership and project
management.
Adam Mayingu started his career in 1989 as Systems
Analyst/Programmer for the National Bank of Commerce.
He later joined the Standard Chartered Bank in 1993 as
the IT operations Officer.
In 1994, Mr Mayingu accepted employment in CRDB Bank as
a Senior Systems Analyst, a position he held until 1997 when he joined the
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) as a Senior Business Analyst.
In 1998 Adam Mayingu rejoined the CRDB Bank as the Head
of IS/ICT.
Adam Mayingu holds a Bsc Ed Hons (Computing Option) an
MBA (majoring in IT), a PhD (Knowledge Management) and an Msc (Leadership).
He has undergone extensive short-term training and
workshops on ICT, Management, Commercial Banking and Pensions Administration
conducted both in Tanzania and abroad.
Sunday 10 March 2013
PSPF organises an annual meeting in Dar es Salaam
By Nasser Kigwangallah
THE minister for Labour
and Employment, Ms Gaudensia Kabaka
The minister made
the remarks in her key note address when she was closing the two days Public Service
Pension Fund annual meeting in Dar es Salaam on Friday.
She said: “I have
been attending such meetings organized by Pension Funds in the country order to
learn more on their functions and how they serve their members.”
She added that she was
overwhelmed by the attendance of so many members from all over the country and
urged PSPF to continue with the efforts of involving their members in their
undertakings.
She urged the
management to continue with their efforts of collecting money and invest in
various development projects for the welfare of their members.
“I assure you that I
have taken all suggestions and requests to the government and my ministry would
do whatever it could to act on those recommendations without delay,” she said.
Minister Kabaka urged
the PSPF management to do whatever it could to ensure that the Fund is known to
its members so as to remove any misunderstandings, by using the media and other
outlets.
“Sell your products
through advertisements so that many people could join the Fund of their own
choice,” she said.
She also urged Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA)
to involve all its stakeholders, to hear their
views and act on their suggestions.
On his part, George
Yambesi, the PSPF Chairman said the purpose of organizing such a meeting was to
educate its members on how PSPF functions and that their money was at a safe
place.
“We have received so
many feedback from our members and we are going to act on them immediately,”
he said.
Trade relationship between Tanzania and Algeria is historical
The Algerian ambassador to Tanzania His Excellency Djelloul Tabet shaking hands with Anne Makinda, the Speaker of the National Assembly in Dar es Salaam recently
By Nasser Kigwangallah
THE bilateral ties between Tanzania and Algeria is
historical based on personal friendship of founder presidents Ahmed Ben Bella
of the Republic of Algeria and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of the United Republic of
Tanzania.
This was revealed by his Excellency Djelloul Tabet,
honourable ambassador of the Embassy of Algeria to Tanzania in an exclusive
interview in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
He said the cultural, political and trade relationship
between the two countries started a long time ago and has continued to expand
from time to time.
According to him, Algeria sided with Tanzania during
the hard times when it went to war with Uganda in the 1978/79 Kagera war
imposed by Iddi Amin.
“The two countries have set up a joint committee to
review the existing cooperation in trade, finance and cultural undertakings so
as to expand it further for the benefit of the peoples of the two respective
countries,” he said.
He added that delegates from the two countries had a
joint meeting in Dar es Salaam in the
year 2010 and drew a road map of implementation on the trade ties and how
matters should be implemented.
“Algeria provides sixty scholarships to Tanzanian
students each year who go to Algeria to study in different fields such as engineering,
medicines and vocational trainings,” he said.
He said there are more than 1000 Tanzanians have
studied in Algeria and are now offering their humble services to their brothers
and sisters in Tanzania.
The ambassador said these students are the ambassadors
of the relationship between Algeria and Tanzania because they know much about Algeria
and its people.
“They have formed an organization called Tanzania and
Algeria Friendship Association (TAFA) which unites them with their Algerian
counterparts in Dar es Salaam,” he said.
He said Algeria is also committed to the development of
Africa and supports all resolutions at the international fora that aimed at
highlighting the plight of Africa and its people.
The ambasaador said: “As a non aligned movement (NAM)
member, Algeria has been at the forefront to ensure that all interests of
Africa are taken into consideration to ensure peace, stability and progress of
the continent is preserved.”
He appreciated the stand Tanzania takes on its foreign
relations with the rest of the world.
However, ambassador Tabet said that he was not
satisfied with the level of trade between the two countries and wants it to be
expanded further.
“In order to tackle all the issues of trade imbalances and
the exchange of goods, Algerian businessmen visited Tanzania recently to
explore ways of expanding; particularly in agriculture, that would enable
production of more food for the consumption of the local people,” he said.
Ambassador of Algeria to Tanzania, His Excellency Djelloul Tabet shaking hands with Anne Makinda, the Speaker of the National Assembly in Dar es Salaam recently
By Nasser Kigwangallah
THE bilateral ties between Tanzania and Algeria is
historical based on personal friendship of founder presidents Ahmed Ben Bella
of the Republic of Algeria and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of the United Republic of
Tanzania.
This was revealed by his Excellency Djelloul Tabet,
honourable ambassador of the Embassy of Algeria to Tanzania in an exclusive
interview in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
He said the cultural, political and trade relationship
between the two countries started a long time ago and has continued to expand
from time to time.
According to him, Algeria sided with Tanzania during
the hard times when it went to war with Uganda in the 1978/79 Kagera war
imposed by Iddi Amin.
“The two countries have set up a joint committee to
review the existing cooperation in trade, finance and cultural undertakings so
as to expand it further for the benefit of the peoples of the two respective
countries,” he said.
He added that delegates from the two countries had a
joint meeting in Dar es Salaam in the
year 2010 and drew a road map of implementation on the trade ties and how
matters should be implemented.
“Algeria provides sixty scholarships to Tanzanian
students each year who go to Algeria to study in different fields such as engineering,
medicines and vocational trainings,” he said.
He said there are more than 1000 Tanzanians have
studied in Algeria and are now offering their humble services to their brothers
and sisters in Tanzania.
The ambassador said these students are the ambassadors
of the relationship between Algeria and Tanzania because they know much about Algeria
and its people.
“They have formed an organization called Tanzania and
Algeria Friendship Association (TAFA) which unites them with their Algerian
counterparts in Dar es Salaam,” he said.
He said Algeria is also committed to the development of
Africa and supports all resolutions at the international fora that aimed at
highlighting the plight of Africa and its people.
The ambasaador said: “As a non aligned movement (NAM)
member, Algeria has been at the forefront to ensure that all interests of
Africa are taken into consideration to ensure peace, stability and progress of
the continent is preserved.”
He appreciated the stand Tanzania takes on its foreign
relations with the rest of the world.
However, ambassador Tabet said that he was not
satisfied with the level of trade between the two countries and wants it to be
expanded further.
“In order to tackle all the issues of trade imbalances and
the exchange of goods, Algerian businessmen visited Tanzania recently to
explore ways of expanding; particularly in agriculture, that would enable
production of more food for the consumption of the local people,” he said.
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