NEW NAPSA LAW NOT BEST POLICY – CTDF
April 19, 2023
Copperbelt Trade and Development Forum – CTDF Executive Director Vincent Lengwe says his organisation’s objective and honesty analysis has revealed that the NAPSA Amendment Act of 2023 is not the best policy direction.
Mr. Lengwe said this is because the Act contradicts or abrogates the basic principles of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Social Security Minimum Standards Convention No. 102.
He said the core principle of social security safety nets such as NAPSA was to mitigate socio-economic destitution such as involuntary unemployment or old age, and must not be misconstrued as an anti-dot or temporal pain killer against the high cost of living or poverty.
Mr. Lengwe said currently, the unemployment rate in Zambia is still at alarming levels with a national poverty incident rate of over 60% coupled with a high cost of living.
He said the jubilation and excitement by NAPSA beneficiaries most of whom are unemployed must not therefore be misconstrued as a sign of achievement but rather as indicator of destitution and vulnerability among both the working class and the unemployed.
Mr. Lengwe said the 2023 NAPSA Amendment Act is clearly taking away the future of vulnerable workers.
“Further, the mandate of NAPSA is to ensure that the pension fund is guaranteed by investing member contributions towards socially viable investments which it has successfully implemented over the years such as; the road infrastructure from Ndola to Solwezi, solar energy, real estate e.g Levy Business Park, ECL Business Park, Northgate houses, Kalulushi Housing Complex etc,” he said.
Mr. Lengwe said the NAPSA partial payments will therefore not only subject beneficiaries to future destitution but it will also compromise government’s ability to sustain the fund.
“In view of the above, NAPSA or any other national social security scheme must not therefore be used as a political instrument to curb the high cost of living as it is not only sustainable but a departure from the objectives of managing pension funds,” he said.
Mr. Lengwe said though the partial payments are not mandatory for every eligible beneficiary, the only NAPSA amendment that the New Dawn government should have focused on was involuntary unemployment excluding serving employees who are evidently tempted to fall into the trap of forfietting or compromising with their future pension.
“If the New Dawn government is really committed about eliminating the poverty vulnerability among the working class, the best roadmap was to reduce the cost of living, ensure decent wages and eliminate casualization or labour outsourcing,” he said.
Mr. Lengwe said the perception of incapacitating NAPSA from investing on behalf of its members and taking this responsibility to individual members will have devastating future impact on the vulnerable employees together with their families.