Senators have said that the current situation is concerning, where Rwandans who worked abroad, mainly in Burundi, are not given pension. They hence called for their access to social security. The call was made on Wednesday, August 10, as the Senate’s Plenary Sitting approved two senior leaders of the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB), who were appointed by the Cabinet last month. They are Regis Rugemanshuro, the CEO of RSBB, and Louise Kanyonga as the Deputy CEO of RSSB. Senator André Twahirwa said that the issue of former Rwandan workers abroad has existed for long and should be solved. “This is an issue that concerns many Rwandans who really suffered. We should look for ways to follow up on that issue to be addressed, so that the contributions they made here [for those who later worked in Rwanda] and those they made in Burundi are combined for them to get pension,” Twahirwa said. Senator Emmanuel Havugimana said some Rwandans returned late 1994 after working for 15 years in Burundi, and when they reached in Rwanda, they worked for only 10 years and retired [after reaching 65 years, which is the legal retirement age]. “Those people are not getting any pension benefits in Rwanda because they did not contribute to the pension scheme under the management of RSSB for at least 15 years that are required by the law in Rwanda,” he said. “Some of them have died after living in extreme poverty; they did not get any pension … And others aged without receiving pension benefits. This is a sad situation,” he said, calling for ways to help those who are still alive. Yet, Havugimana said, Burundi sent the contributions they had paid to its social security plan after an agreement with Rwanda, so that they get pension here. Speaking to The New Times, Gerard Karamutsa, 74, said that he worked in Burundi and contributed to the pension scheme there for about 19 years. Thus far, he said, for the 1,800 Rwandans who worked in Burundi before they returned home late 1994 after the liberation of Rwanda, access to pension seems denied. “Lack of access to the due pension is resulting in former workers living miserably, yet they should be leading a decent life thanks to their contribution to the pension scheme,” he said, adding that some of them died living in poor conditions. Karamutsa indicated that those Rwandans were promised by the Government the pension benefits after returning home – provided that they would have contributed to the pension scheme for at least a combined period of 15 years as required by the legislation. To that end, he said, the Government of Rwanda negotiated with the Government of Burundi for the latter to send contributions made by the former Rwandan workers to its social security fund [in 2006]. In January 2011, the former Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) – current RSSB – stated that Rwandans who worked with the Burundian civil service would start receiving their pension package by the end of that year. And, the Government of Burundi sent to Rwanda in 2013 the contributions of the 1,800 former Rwandan workers amounting to Rwf139 million towards paying their pension benefits, after the negotiation with the Rwandan Government. However, some four years later, a decision of the Cabinet meeting dated December 8, 2015 poured cold water on their right to pension as it stated that Rwandans who worked in Burundi will not receive pension, rather, they should only get the contributions they made while working there. Apart from denying them access to pension, that decision, according to pensioners, belittles their efforts as the contributions are currently insignificant especially given that the franc’s value and purchasing power declined over time, while the cost of living rose significantly compared to when they made them. “They wanted to give me back the contributions amounting to Rwf260,000 that I made to the pension scheme in Burundi [for 19 years] since 1975 [until 1994]. That money cannot help me, given the current cost of living,” Karamutsa said.
