Lusaka — Political interference has been cited as a major hindrance in effective deliverance of the social security system in Zambia.

And the Committee on Economic Affairs and Labour has asked the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to outline specific proposals on how the unions want the social security system to be reformed.

The issue of political interference was raised when ZCTU representatives appeared before the committee yesterday.

Committee chairperson Edith Nawakwi had wanted to find out from ZCTU why there was lack of interest among people with regard to obtaining information from the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), as indicated by the authority's representatives when they appeared before the committee.

However, ZCTU trustee Sam Phiri said it was difficult to obtain information from NAPSA and that the authority was resistant to giving out information.

He said very few people, if any at all, knew the worth of the accounts in NAPSA.

Phiri called for the reformation of NAPSA so that the authority could accommodate change.

Referring to last year's conference on social security, which yielded no concrete proposals on social security reform, Phiri said some of the heads at NAPSA had been in the institution for a long time and had developed a thick skin to change.

At last year's conference, ZCTU had an objective to comprehensively address the social security issues.

But ZCTU leaders yesterday said the conference failed to achieve results because the government and employers had only one objective - to do away with the provisions of the minimum wages Act.

ZCTU president Leonard Hikaumba said the government had feared it was not receiving enough investment because most investors had said they paid too much money toward terminal benefits and employers also felt the benefit payments were too much.

As a result, they agitated for the review of benefit accumulation from three months of one's salary per year, to two years' salary.

Phiri said the objectives of last year's conference were not achieved because NAPSA had its own interest, which stemmed from political interference.

Nawakwi said, however, that political interference had been a major factor in the entire system, including the Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF) and the Local Authorities Superannuation Fund (LASF).

She asked ZCTU representatives to provide the committee with concrete legislative proposals on how they wanted the system to be run.

Nawakwi also asked the labour movement to give its view on how it felt about the in-house pension schemes regarding the security of employees.

She said there was need for the committee to have a full knowledge of how the labour movement wanted the social security system to run.

Earlier in his presentation, ZCTU president Leonard Hikaumba said the main concerns on social security in Zambia were inadequacy and poor management, coupled with political interference to a point where resources of pension schemes were made to service government and political programmes.

Hikaumba said the social security system had failed to achieve its objectives.

He suggested the need for pension schemes to cover such risks as old age, retirement, disability or death of the breadwinner and insurance against employment, accidents and occupational diseases.

Hikaumba also called for medical insurance to cover sickness and maternity.