Govt owes fund money, rent

By DALE LUMA
THE Government owes Nambawan Super Ltd (NSL) about a billion kina in unfunded member shares, a senior fund official says.
Chief investment officer David Kitchnoge said the fund was also owed K160 million in unpaid rentals for its properties occupied by state departments and agencies.
Kitchnoge said the fund would be forced to lock its buildings if its rentals were not paid. The Government currently owes the fund approximately 36 months in outstanding rentals.
He said the fund hoped the Government could deliver a good 2022 National Budget today which captured outstanding arrears and unfunded member shares.
“We have been working on a plan with the state to try and have this resolved,” he said.
“We were expecting a first lot of payments this week but it looks
like we are not going to get the payment coming through so we will explore our options including lockouts.
“We are hoping that the Government allocates enough in the budget for 2022 to pay out all our outstanding bills including unfunded share for our members and the rental arrears of about K160 million.
“Unfunded is about K1 billion and the Government has been paying it over a period of time.
“The unfunded is employer contributions to the fund before 1999.
“When members contribute, the employers match their contribution, the members’ six per cent and the employers 8.4 per cent.
“So the unfunded is the 8.4 per cent of the employer contribution from the state that the state did not match with the public servants’ own contribution to the fund.
“It’s accumulated over time to about a billion so that’s there and the state is slowly trying to reduce that balance down that’s over and above their current commitments, they need to continue to match their employer contributions coming in and then pay up the arrears that have built up over time.
“That’s one aspect of the outstanding from government, another aspect is the rental outstanding.”