Govt owes K34bn in deceased estates
Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs says the Office of the Accountant General is yet to process about 3 445 deceased estate claims valued at about K34 billion.
The revelation comes a week after a 23-year-old woman Hendrina Kamenya from Mwanza District held a vigil at Capital Hill in Lilongwe to force payment of death benefits for her father after three years of fruitless efforts.
In a response to our questionnaire yesterday, Treasury spokesperson Taurai Banda conceded the delays in payment of terminal benefits, citing the large backlog of such cases.
He said: “It is true that the payments take too long to be made. Terminal benefits for those under defined benefit contributory scheme do not face payments delays. Those who face payments delays are those under pay-as-you-go scheme.
“The payments are made through government budget which has other equally important commitments that government has to prioritise for instance, government pension and gratuities salaries and interest payments just to mention a few. There are 3 445 deceased estate cases amounting to K34 618 277 407.”
Banda said the pay-as-you-go pension scheme covers officers born before 1982 and do not contribute toward their terminal benefits.
However, he said there are some officers that retire after attaining 20 years of service for green pasture and other reasons and this group of pensioners are not budgeted for at the start of the financial year as opposed to those who attain 60 years of age.
Said Banda: “As a result of this inadequate budget the Pensions Section is currently paying deceased estate dated January 2022. When paying we follow first come first-served basis and deceased records are captured based on the date that the documents of the deceased were submitted to pensions section.
“Arrangements have been made to ensure that mandatory retiree and death gratuity beneficiaries are systematically arranged based on dates and adequate resources are put in place.”
He further said there are six dedicated officers in the Deceased Estate Section who are currently handling the cases.
“In addition to these officers there are three accountants one principal officer and two chief accountants who oversee the work of the officers,” Banda said.
However, Human Rights Defenders Coalition chairperson Gift Trapence urged government to clear the bill.
He said: “You do not steal from the dead! These people served the country and left children. Who do you think is helping these kids if government does not give them what their parents earned? Let government release the gratuities. It must be a priority.”
On Thursday, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo admitted that the process is generally too long, adding, it all begins from death certification, reporting to the Administrator General and taking the steps.
Together with an estate duty, an application is then made to the High Court to issue a Letter of Administration, a document under which someone is appointed to be the administrator of the estate, said the minister.
He said: “Without those documents, the Administrator General has no power to do anything. It is a very long process and sometimes delays happen at the court, that’s where sometimes things get stuck. If it wasn’t for that long procedure, things would have been done much quicker,” Mvalo said.
Meanwhile, the office of the Administrator General has suggested a review of the laws to address delays in disbursement of death benefits to dependents of deceased civil servants.
