Halifa Sallah this week took time to grossly fault Gambia’s pension policy, calling for reviewing of the setup.
The Serrekunda representative’s comments were in reaction to a bill introduced seeking to centralise the pension administration aimed at making pension payments easier.
Elucidating into the depths of the current policy, the PDOIS top dog raised qualms with the under utilisation of pensioners’ funds and government’s failure in the sector including the red-tape attached, which he said, has discouraged most pensioners.
“For over 55 years, you are deducting money and you are not investing anywhere. All you are doing is replenishing government funds.
“You take from the worker and put it in the consolidated fund and then you appropriate to go and pay that first,” he said.
He went on: “Honourable speaker, the honourable vice-president should see that this is just a process of remedying a situation where people pay and at the end of the day find it difficult to a point that they give up because it is more expensive to come because of the bureaucracy to claim for your birth right. For 40 years you are depositing money in a bank and you don’t expect interest.”
