K200mil allocated for retirees

THE Government has allocated K200 million to the Department of Personnel Management (DPM) for the retirement of public servants, an official says.
DPM agencies director Roselyn Wrakuavia said after last year’s national budget, the Government allocated K430 million, but, it was not fully utilised because of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic that disrupted most operations and as a result, they only used K80 million.
Wrakuavia said in the current national budget, the Government added another K200 million on top of the remaining 2021 balance to continue farewelling the public servants with what they deserve after their service.
“I acknowledge the previous government (headed by Peter O’Neill) for agreeing to the retirement submission that was submitted,” she said.
“In 2020, the submission was complemented and supported by the current Government.
“The money was intact and since 2016, we were able to retire 1,286 public servants and the figure is expected to rise.”
Wrakuavia said Government agencies had their own jurisdiction to decide if they wanted to be part of the retirement entitlements and should consult the DPM office early for payment release.
She said the department had an exit age policy submitted to the National Executive Council which had been approved under decision 122 of 2019 stating that “every year, whoever is 64 last-year, must go into retirement” as per the Government decision when reaching 65 years the following year.
“In public service, we have a lot of aging workforce still on the payroll, like 2,800-plus are 65 but still on the payroll,” she said.
“It’s incumbent in respective agencies with their agency heads to make sure that those people must retire on time.
“It needs competent human resource managers in various agencies to push for them.
“It’s first-come first-serve.
“Agencies that have a good number of aging workers, it’s a must they write to DPM aggressively because it’s a challenge, it’s a competition among respective agencies.”
Wrakuavia said the department had no capacity and manpower to process the retirement entitlements for individuals but would be more supportive if they consulted as Government agencies.