The Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman) has asked the Teachers Service Commission to overhaul the teachers' pension system as part of reforms to end prolonged delays in settling pension and gratuity claims.
The Commission, through a press release on Thursday, January 8, has recommended the re-establishment of a stand-alone pension unit within the Teachers Service Commission to ensure the timely processing of pension and death gratuity claims.
Following an increase in public complaints about ongoing delays in pension benefit processing and payment, the Commission conducted an investigation and made the recommendations.
The investigation established that pensions for teachers retiring compulsorily were delayed by between two and four years, while gratuity claims took between four and over six years to be paid.
The Commission revealed that at the TSC offices, the delays were largely driven by insufficient staffing, inadequate resources, and weak supervision, among other challenges.
According to the Commission, the difficulties at the TSC were exacerbated by retirees' or next of kin's incomplete or erroneous documentation submissions, as well as the excessive workload imposed on the small number of officers.
The Commission claims that among other things, the Pension Department's delays were caused by the Pension Management Information System's (PMIS) frequent outages and antiquated communication techniques.
The investigation also revealed that, in some cases, local administrators colluded with families to misrepresent the details of dependents, particularly in polygamous households or where children were born out of wedlock, complicating claim verification.
The Ombudsman has suggested updating pension workflows, improving digitalisation, updating pension documentation, creating collaborative case tracking tools, disclosing pending claims, and implementing frequent staff training.
To restore equity and transparency, the Pension Department has been instructed to strictly implement a verifiable "first-in, first-out" payment system.
The Ombudsman also suggested that the National Treasury's Cabinet Secretary make sure pension funds are allocated and disbursed on time.
