Citizen First leader, Kalaba, accuses UPND government of neglecting retirees

Citizens First (CF) leader, Harry Kalaba, says many retirees who dedicated their lives to public service are struggling, not because Zambia lacks resources, but due to poor prioritisation and weak enforcement of pension systems under the UPND government.

Kalaba said National Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA) figures show that about 28,000 retirees were currently receiving monthly pension benefits, with the minimum pension standing at just over K1,400 per month—an amount he said is far below the cost of living.

In an interview with Zambia Monitor, Kalaba said that beyond low monthly pensions, many civil servants waited for more than a year to receive their retirement gratuities, attributing the delays to structural and policy failures.

“Firstly, pension liabilities are not properly funded in advance. The so-called ‘new dawn’ treats pensions as a future issue instead of a current obligation. So ministries and councils struggle to remit contributions, creating sudden shortages and payment delays when employees retire,” he said.

Kalaba said pension payments often competed with discretionary spending, noting that once revenue was absorbed into general expenditure, pensions were forced to compete with new projects and other priorities.

He added that weak revenue collection had further worsened the situation, citing Auditor General and government reports that pointed to large sums of public revenue going uncollected due to poor enforcement and leakages.

“What frustrates many Zambians is the contradiction between pension neglect and spending priorities. While retirees are told to wait, the so-called ‘new dawn’ continues to finance large infrastructure projects and long-term concession agreements,” Kalaba said.

He noted that oversight bodies, including the Public Accounts Committee, had repeatedly highlighted billions of Kwacha in uncollected or poorly managed funds across ministries and state institutions, arguing that the challenge was not a lack of money but failure to prioritise those who had already served the nation.

Kalaba said the handling of defence force pensions further exposed weaknesses in the system, adding that a recent High Court ruling confirmed that the current leadership acted unlawfully in delaying and miscalculating benefits for some retired servicemen.

“The fact that retired members of the Army, ZNS and Air Force had to go to court highlights a serious failure. The CF will tackle pension reform seriously and realistically. Pension and gratuity payments will be ring-fenced once approved by Parliament so they cannot be diverted, and all court-ordered settlements will be honoured immediately,” he said.

“Retirees are not asking for sympathy. They are asking for dignity, fairness and the benefits they earned through decades of service. Under the CF, pension reform will be a national obligation, not a discretionary favour,” Kalaba said.

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