Over 4,300 Pensioners Processed At NASSCORP

-Under New Scheme

The National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) said it has enrolled over 4,300 pensioners since the new scheme process began a few months ago.

According to the Liberia News Agency, the Coordinator for Public Sector and Claims Department, Madam Mahdea Belleka, said out of 17,541 beneficiaries, the entity has processed about 4,305 so far.

She said those processed showed up at NASSCORP’s offices around the country and presented documentations proving that they are the actual beneficiaries.

Madam Belleka said beneficiaries were asked to present proper documents like retirement letter and pension ID card which upon presentation, the Civil Service Agency (CSA) and NASSCORP would vet them to make sure that they are the true beneficiaries under the scheme.

Madam Belleka stated that the CSA plays a major role during the vetting process because they were the custodian of the data base where all these civil servants’ names were plugged, adding that they would then confirm to NASSCORP that the person in question is a beneficiary under the scheme and urged them to enroll said individual.

According to her, a joint team from the CSA and NASSCORP travelled around the country to vet all those on the non-contributory scheme either as primary or secondary beneficiaries.

She added that the exercise started in August of last year with beneficiaries sufficiently notified on the process through radio announcements and other mediums, calling on them to present themselves at the different locations as indicated, as the exercise covers the entire country.

Prior to the enrollment process, discussions on how to migrate the pensioners from the scheme which was managed by the CSA and the Ministry of Finance started between the three entities (CSA, Finance and NASSCORP) in early 2018.

Madam Belleka explained that all government pensioners before were under a non-contributory scheme which was fully funded by the government of Liberia and beneficiaries were not paying into that scheme.

At the time of retirement, she stated, all Civil Servants were entitled to a pension fully funded by the government, while for some public servants whose entities didn’t have the funding at the time of their retirement could apply for their pension through the CSA.

According to her, for those who were on that scheme, the CSA, being the human resource arm of the government, would do the processing and submit a request for funding to the Ministry of Finance that was then making payment to pensioners.

Since December 2016 when the new pension Law came into force, Madam Belleka said, the scheme ended and now all public and civil servants are receiving pension through NASSCORP where they are now contributing.

The corporation has made two separate payments so far since the process started, and these payments are to those who have fully gone through the exercise and their names have been entered into the system together with a bank account number.

Moreover, a new system was built through an IT provider in which beneficiaries who have been vetted and verified are being enrolled.

Meanwhile, the corporation is calling on all beneficiaries who have successfully been enrolled to obtain a bank account number through which their payments can be processed as NASSCORP is only responsible for the paper work. Source: LINA