By the end of 2019, outstanding pension contributions rose from K13.1 billion in 2018, to K20 billion, according to the 2019 Financial Institutions Supervision Report by the Reserve Bank of Malawi.

In July last year, RBM released a statement, threatening to name and shame the companies that hadn’t settled their pension areas. Later in September, the Registrar of Financial Solutions, Dalitso Kabambe, released a list of companies with arrears; some of the named firms that are yet to remit hundreds of millions in pension.

On the other hand, Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) outlined that the failure by employers to remit pension funds means that employees will lose out their savings when they retire because pension funds will be minimal or not available. “By not remitting the pensions the employers are committing a criminal offense because they deduct the funds from employees which is reflected on monthly pay slips but fail to remit the same to pension fund administrators.” MCTU secretary general Dennis Kalekeni.