
Maputo, 11 Aug (AIM) – The Mozambican Ministry of Economy and Finance has ordered the compulsory retirement of all employees in the public administration who have reached the retirement age of 65 (for men) or 60 (for women).
In a dispatch made public on Saturday, the Ministry gave all those affected a deadline of ten days, counted as from 1 August, to present the documents required to fix their pensions.
Those documents are a request for a pension addressed to the General Director of the National Social Welfare Institute, an authenticated copy of the applicant’s identity card, his or her tax number (NUIT), and a certificate proving how long he or she has worked for the public administration.
Within six months, the public employees should start to receive their pensions. During this period they will no longer receive their wages as such, but will receive an allowance equivalent to the net wages they received at the time they ceased to work for the administration.
The Ministry warned that, if the documents required are not delivered, the allowance may be suspended.
Each employee should deliver the documentation to the human resource manager in his or her sector, who is then responsible for forwarding it to the National Social Welfare Institute. Proof that the documents have been forwarded should be sent to the National Directorate of Public Accounts.
The Ministry dispatch does not estimate how many staff will be affected by compulsory retirement, or how much money the move is expected to save.
The dispatch follows loud complaints by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the public sector wage bill is too high.
If this dispatch is implemented, the public sector could lose, at one fell swoop, thousands of highly qualified and experienced staff.
(AIM)
Pf/ (296)