Old age pension must be supplemented: Kameeta

WINDHOEK, 22 AUG  – Modalities to implement the National Pension Fund to supplement the old age pension should be considered seriously, Minister of Poverty Eradication and Child Welfare, Zephania Kameeta said.
This was revealed in his speech issued to Nampa on Tuesday when speaking at the three-day Social Protection System Workshop in Swakopmund.
The workshop, which is expected to end on Thursday, is meant to provide guidance for the formulation of the Namibia Social Protection Policy.
Kameeta urged stakeholders of the pension fund to ensure that the grant does not only benefit the direct beneficiaries, but spills over to the dependants of the beneficiaries.
He said that although many programmes like the Food Bank Programme, Basic State Grants, Child Welfare and Old Age and Disability Grants are established to help the needy, there is more to be done.
He noted that the situation could be worse for some people without this assistance.
Kameeta added that for the ministry during the previous financial year (2017/18), the coverage for the pension and disability grants stood at 96 and 70 per cent respectively.
“The child grants and the school feeding programmes have been recorded to cover about 34 per cent of all children in Namibia,” he added.
The government is therefore helping Namibians to cope with risks that they are facing with regard to climatic uncertainties, childhood deprivation, youth unemployment and inadequate empowerment of women.
The National Pension Fund is one of the things needed to be done as stated in the Harambee Prosperity Plan, to call for consolidating social grants into a more effective and well-coordinated safety net, said Kameeta.
NAMPA