KABUL – Retired government employees said their annual pensions should have been paid over months ago but that nothing is being done to resolve the problem.
Number of retirees on Tuesday blast government pensions payment system and they said for months they are coming to the retirement pensions department and while they don’t have any other income sources they must go with empty hands.
The retirees said that because of corruption and bureaucracy existence in the retirement treasury they are not receiving their salary and the government did not take any step to solve their problem.
“Four months ago we give our pension cards but yet there is no news of our cards or our salary,” said Mohmmad Mosa a retirees.
“There is only bureaucracy and the money which we receives that money expend all on vehicle rent and food,” said Wazir Khan another retirees.
Among the male retirees there is woman Salima, who also came from Baghlan province to receive her pension and she said that this is the fourth time that she is coming all that long way to receive her salary but she failed to get her salary.
Salima said that she worked for government for years and she is the only breadwinner of her family.
“They pay me annually 19,000 Afghans ($280 dollars) and I don’t have anyone else to help me and this the fourth time I am coming from Pul-e-Khomre capital of Baghlan to receive my pension,” Salima said.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Works and Social Affairs admits that lack of budget and not coming of retirees on their exact time for receiving their salary are the main challenges that failed them to not pay the retirees salaries properly.
The ministry said that they have requested one billion and five hundred million Afghans from the ministry of finance to pay the retirees pensions.
“One of the problem in the pension treasury department is that when we call someone to come and collect his/her pension they are not coming on time, the other problem is retirees rush which they come from across the provinces and this lead to disorder,” said Abdul Fatah Ahmadzai, spokesman for the ministry.
In the other hand, Ministry of Finance said that six million Afghans allocated in national budget for retirees which is paid quarterly to the ministry of works and social affairs.
“We allocated six million Afghans for retirees in the national budget at the beginning of the year and the money paid to the ministry of works and social affairs quarterly. Our request from the ministry is to work on the transparency and system building,” finance ministry spokesman Ajmal Abdul Rahimzai said.
This is not the first time that retirement rights are not paid at a given time but in the past also the retirees had complaints about not receiving their pensions on time.  (Tolonews)