Director General (Social Security Regulatory Authority)

H.E Jakaya Kikwete has had two wonderful terms and he has accomplished a lot for the country – In your opinion, what are the President’s main achievements and what legacy is he be leaving to the country and people?

Dr. Jakaya Kikwete, the President of United Republic Government of Tanzania has done a lot in the Social Security sector. He is actually responsible for approving the Law and he has appointed me as the founder of Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA). Therefore, the establishment of Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA) is one of the President’s main achievements. Again before enactment of Act No. 8 of 2008 which established the Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA), there were number of problems in the sector such as Fragmented legal and regulatory framework, as well as schemes operating differently with different Government structures. Secondly, another challenge was the Fragmented benefits as each scheme had different set of benefits and the last was the Fragmented investment policies because each fund had its own investment policies. There was also a lack of awareness about social security among the people. By the time most of the people came across social security when they are about to retire. The establishment of SSRA has facilitated a number of reforms such as the legal and regulatory framework reform through Act No. 5 of 2012; it is called social security laws amendment Act that focuses on activities of all the schemes including definition of members and salaries. It was not only that but also the Act focused on internal operations of the schemes, which were not in good shape. Therefore SSRA through Act No. 5 is now able to issue instructions, guidelines, rules so that the schemes can comply. The other thing is that SSRA collaborates with the Bank of Tanzania in issuing investment guidelines so all the schemes are required to use the investment guidelines to guide their own policies and the Government structures in terms of investments.

What is the role and responsibility of Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA)?

Social security is the regulatory authority whose main role is to regulate social security sector and the seven schemes in place: National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF), Public Pension Fund (PPF), Local Authority Pension Fund (LAPF), GEPF Retirement Benefit Fund, Workers Conversation Fund (WCF) and the last one is National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). The other main roles of SSRA include; registration of fund managers-custodians and schemes, issuing guidelines regulations and rules to ensure efficient operations in the sector, conducting researches that help in improving the services and expansion of social security services, advising the Minister for Labor and Employment who is responsible for social security on all policy issues related to social security. Basically SSRA through the power of Act No. 5 whereby according to the Act, the onsite inspections are conducted twice a year while offsite inspections on quarterly basis and the report is presented to the board of trustees and compliance plan is given for the areas which are not within the regulations and rules. Therefore, SSRA monitors those areas in closely.

Could please explain us the management structure of SSRA that allows it to perform so well?

Currently there are about forty policies. The structure of SSRA as an organization consists of Board of Directors, Director General and Four Units namely Unit of public relations which deals with the public relations promotions, second is Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Unit which links the data and information to SSRA, third is Procurement Unit and the last one is Internal Audit Unit. Again in terms of the Directorate, SSRA consists of Directorate of registration and compliance which is responsible for the registration of all the schemes and making sure that they comply, second is Directorate of Legal Services which deals with amendment of laws and guidelines, not only that but also there is Directorate of Researches-Auctorial and Policy Analysis which is responsible for all policy issues as well as conducting the evaluation of the schemes and the last one is Directorate of Finance and Human Resources Management which is dealing with financial issues and schemes management in general.

Does SSRA generate its own income?

Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA) works on budget basis but it is also funded by levy whereby according to Act No. 5 of 2012, SSRA is required to get levy therefore the budget is prepared and approved by the Minister and he is the one who issues the process for SSRA to get levy. The size of the budget required by SSRA is around 80 billion Tanzanian shillings per year. And yet there is a need for us to collaborate better with Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), National Identification so that SSRA can get assistance when a project is very expensive.

What are SSRA’s main investment guidelines for the seven schemes?

In investment guidelines there are number of areas that investors would prefer to invest. However, Investment in the risky free instruments such as treasury bills and government securities are required but only to a maximum of 70% is allowed while the minimum is 20%. We give such guidelines because of these are safe investments. Second is Investment in properties which is 30% and the last one is Investment in private equity which is only 5% allowed. Again the investment of pension funds are guided in four principles namely safety which means every shilling that is invested must be recouped, second is yield which means every shilling invested must yield a certain level and the amount that is needed in Tanzania is 1% above the inflation regarding the current inflation rate is 6.4% then at least 7.4%, the third one is Diversification which means there is a need to diversify what kind of risky management and the last one is Social-Economic Utility that whatever the investments are made especially the ones in the properties, there should be compatibility between the kind of investment made and the community or environment whereby the investments must have the social-Economic utility as well. The other areas where investments can be done include 10% Direct line of credit investment to SACCOS which are members of social security schemes and in the Infrastructure as well which allows only 25%.

How do you make sure that these investment guidelines are actually pursued?

After issuing the guidelines, the investors are developing their internal investment policies and they put their benchmarks therefore the amount invested is actually inspected during supervision whether it is within the approved benchmarks. The investment in infrastructure can be categorized into two forms namely social infrastructure investment and economic infrastructure investment, in terms of social infrastructure investment; Dodoma University and Nelson Mandela University are good examples while in terms of economic infrastructure investment things like Roads, Bridges and Airports are the good examples. However there is only one investment in the infrastructure whereby National Social Security Fund (NSSF) is financing the construction of the bridge.

How would you describe Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA) as a public institution?

Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA) is a regulator and one thing that differentiate SSRA from the rest; it is because SSRA is responsible to regulate all the social security to ensure that when the members are retired they get adequate benefits. Achieving this within five years, SSRA had very strong commitment from high-level authority and internally SSRA itself has number of policies and guidelines, yet SSRA is a public institution but it operates like a private institution. The other thing about SSRA is that it is accommodative as it involves stakeholders. Every single guideline cannot go out without involving key stakeholders such as workers, the government and employers therefore stakeholder’s involvement is a key and they have assisted SSRA. For instance SSRA gets strong support from the President himself, Vice President, Prime Minister, the Minister for Labor and Employment, the Head of trade Unions, the Head of employers association all these together have assisted SSRA to achieve what it has achieved today and SSRA as an organization continues to collaborate with these key stakeholders by providing reports and whenever something happens, the key stakeholders are informed before further actions are taken.

Could you tell us about your background?

I am an economist and I have specialized in monitory economics and econometrics. Initially I worked for National Social Security Fund (NSSF) as both a researcher and an investment officer. Then I served, as the public-private partnership advisor for 35 councils, by the time there was intervention on health, afterwards I worked for Public Pension Fund (PPF) as the investment manager. Thereafter I worked for Standard Bank, which is the branch of Standard Chartered Bank as the country head of public sector, and international development groups including the embassies, donors and lastly I was promoted to become the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA).

As a woman in power how, do you feel about it for being appointed as the Director General of SSRA?

President Jakaya Kikwere has appointed a lot of women that is another good thing about him. It is true that for women it is difficult to manage and one has to work twice than men and it is only the performance that determines the one’s (woman) ability. Therefore despite of serving as the Director General of Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA), I also perform other domestic activities as a woman, the thing is there should be good balance in managing all the duties.