When the US and European banking industries hit a brick wall a few years ago, some of the largest financial institutions had to be bailed out by their governments in order to stay afloat. That is when the myth “too big to fail” was debunked. Many of the financial institutions believed too much in their invincibility that they took careless risks thinking they could take anything thrown at them. That was their downfall. Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) is a behemoth of an organization with fingers in every pie. And that could be its Achilles’ heel if not careful. Being both a pensions fund and an insurance firm is quite a big mouthful. But failure to separate three distinct health insurance schemes is a grave error. As was revealed this week when RSSB officials appeared before the Senate, the employee medical insurance scheme, RAMA, the maternity insurance as well as the community-based health insurance (Mutuelle de Sante) are all managed under one book of account which makes it difficult to gauge how each is performing. The monopoly that RSSB enjoyed for long in the pension and health insurance sectors is no more, so it will have to contend with cutthroat completion with firms that have nothing to lose but everything to gain. RSSB seems not to bothered by some of its investments that are not bringing in any returns at the moment; that is a wrong attitude, the same as the “too big to fail” song that saw the downfall of many institutions in the West. It should make sure that every penny invested does what it was intended; bringing in profits. That is not too much to ask of the guardian of people’s pensions.
