Lucia Ipumbu shot down Elma Dienda’s GIPF motion

Trade Minister Lucia Ipumbu is one of the many Swapo party lawmakers that shot down PDM’s Elma Dienda for questioning where the rest of the remaining 50% of deceased members’ money goes at GIPF.
Dienda also rallied pensioners to move their money from GIPF to other funds.
During that time Ipumbu slammed Dienda for not “having adequate information on pension matters, their operations and detailed benefit structure, specifically of the GIPF rules and pension fund act in general”.
Further submitting her arguments in parliament, Ipumbu cautioned against pensioners having to create a “long list chain of dependents who in the long run become a liability to the fund and its principal members”.
Ipumbu also said that Dienda sought to encourage members to shift their money to Kuleni Preservation Fund.
“GIPF and Kuleni Preservation Fund are two different types of schemes. Therefore, the Kuleni referred to in her motion, is a Preservation Fund not an occupational pension scheme. Kuleni Fund Administrators the founder of Kuleni Preservation Fund is an Administrator and not a pension fund itself. It administers other pension funds in a DC i.e. amongst others, Members of Parliament and Other Office Bearers Pension Fund where all you Honorable members belong.
However benefits of these funds are totally different from the ones of GIPF and they are paid as prescribed by the rules of the Specific Funds as determined by their respective Board of Trustees,” she said.
She submitted that NAMFISA should put all the necessary regulations in place to regulate how pension funds’ assets are invested.
She argued that the call to GIPF members to resign shortly before retirement and take your pension to other DC Funds was misleading.
Said Ipumbu, “Please take note that the monthly pension on DC Funds is limited to the capital amount a member transfers plus investment returns. If the investment returns are not favourable like now, these monies will be depleted with time and pension will cease. Whereas, in the GIPF set up there is no such thing of depleting the funds since the pension is guaranteed for life.”