By KAIKO NAMUSA –

THE Federation of Free Trade Unions (FFTUZ) has backed Government’s proposal to make an upward adjustment to the retirement age from the current 55 to 65 years to be in tandem with global trends.
The FFTUZ in its written submission to the Labour Institute of Zambia (LIZ) public forum on reviewing the retirement said Zambia was no exception as most countries around the globe increased the retirement age to around 65 years.
The FFTUZ said Zambia still had the lowest age for retirement while many countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) had pegged the retirement age between 60 and 70.
Other comparisons indicated that Europe had the retirement age pegged between at 66 and 67 years, while in countries such as the United States of America, Canada, Peru, Chile, Brazil, China, Indonesia and India, the age for retirement ranged from 55 to 68 years.
“There is more than ample justification for retirement age to be adjusted upwards. Zambia is not an island it belongs to a global family,” the FFTUZ said.
The Union said in Zambia, there were several pension schemes covering both the public service and private institution workers.
It said the scenario had caused a rise to challenges such as bankruptcy of public pension schemes citing the Local Authorities Superannuation Fund (LASF) and the Public Sector Pension Fund (PSPF) owing to political interference and corruption.
Meanwhile, the LIZ has ushered into office 13 new board members to serve for a two-year term of office and would be led by Fanuel Sumaili of Mulungushi University in Kabwe while Idah Chella from the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) is the new vice chairperson.
Others are Derrick Mulenga, a lawyer of Ndola, Ronald Hatoonga from the University of Zambia (UNZA), Jonathan Ng’onga from Kitwe’s Mukuba University, Lyson Mando from FFTUZ, Tyson Chisambo from the Zambia Federation of Employers, Sketchley Sacika, a Lusaka-based labour economist.
Greyson Koyi of UNZA, Nedson Nzowa, a unionist, Clement Kasonde, board secretary, John Musonda from LIZ while another member would be nominated from the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).