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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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UNF introduced contributory pension scheme for Govt servants by Ananda Kannangara
Former Public Administration Minister and UNP Galle District MP Vajira Abeywardene in an interview with the Sunday Observer last week denied the statement made by the Government over the abolition of the public servants' pension scheme by the UNP. Below are excerpts of the interview. Question How do you respond to the statement made by the Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa that the former UNP regime abolished pensions of public servants who were recruited after 2002. Answer Public servants are the backbone in our society. So that in addition to several benefits enjoyed by them, they are also entitled to a pension after their retirement. Therefore as the former Public Administration Minister I would like to say that our Government had never abolished the pension of public servants. Q: But some Government members in Parliament are repeatedly saying that the pension of public servants who were recruited after 2002 was abolished and steps were taken to grant them with some other payment instead of the monthly pension. A: If you go through any appointment letter of a public servant who was recruited to the service after 2002 you can clearly come to a conclusion that we have mentioned that the workers are not deprived of their pension rights. Q: The PA Government says that the UNP during their two-year tenure did not give a single job to the youth in the public sector. Do you agree to this statement? A: I completely reject this statement. When we came into power in December 2001 we first re-developed the entire public service. Thereafter as an initial step of providing jobs, we identified a number of vacancies in the fields of education, technical, health, engineering, agriculture etc. and later filled them. You also can obtain all the relevant details from respective sectors. Q: Didn't your Government provide jobs to the youth in the private sector? A: During our two-year regime more than 187,000 youth in the country secured employment in the private sector and we can get clear evidence of this if we go through statistics available in the Employees Provident Fund Division. (When asked about the Government's pension scheme from Public Service Trade Union Federation President W. H. Piyadasa, he said that the UNF government in 2002 initiated a Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) instead of the old pension scheme. Under the CPS employees as well as the Government make a monthly contribution towards the scheme. It was passed in Parliament with the UNF majority but did not become Law as the Speaker of the House had not given his assent. Therefore no circular was issued by the Ministry of Public Administration in this regard. However, if implemented, under this public servants who joined the service after 2002 are entitled to the CPS). |
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