The Senate on Thursday passed the Pension Fund Bill, 2018 after the Minister of Finance requested that it be read the second and third time.
The Bill passed just before the House adjourned for Independence break until October 22 to enable Members of the House to attend its celebrations.
Dr Moeketsi Majoro said the objective of the Bill is to provide for the registration, regulation, supervision and dissolution of pension funds in Lesotho as well as purposes related thereto.
He said the need for the regulatory framework is driven by two main aims being to protect the interests of people who make contributions into a pension fund from which they intend to draw money when they reach retirement age and to develop the domestic capital market by requiring that a portion of the pension fund contributions be invested in Lesotho as there is currently no legislative requirement that pension moneys be invested in the country to avoid repatriation of funds into the economies of other countries.
The request was seconded by Senator Joel Motṥoene who said he was impressed with the explanation given by the Finance Minister and the factors which he said are inherent in the Bill.
He said the Bill comes at the right time when Lesotho is in the process of reforms hence asserted the law would help provide better guidance when need arises and additionally help improve Lesotho’s economy.
Again, the Finance Minister said Lesotho did not have a law as result, proprietors made their own policies while civil servants used the Pensions Proclamation of 1967 after which came the Defined Contribution Pension scheme, saying members in the former arrangement were not protected by any law hence many policies collapsed because most used the South African law.
Dr Majoro therefore thanked members of the House for a job well done now that the Bill has passed and that this law is going to be important, further noted with gratitude their sincere contribution in making the bill a success.
Source: LENA 26/09/2019