TITLE:
Harmonization of Pension Legislation in the Countries of the East African Community: An Urgent Necessity?
AUTHORS:
Richard Ndikumana
KEYWORDS:
East African Community, Pension Rights, Portability of Rights, Social Legislation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.12,
December
8,
2023
ABSTRACT: Pension funds are the main source of income for retired workers in the
East African Community, as in the rest of the world. The aim of this article is
to analyze the means of implementing the pension rights of retired workers in
the East African Community, who are free to move and work anywhere within the
community. We used documentary techniques to collect data, and legal criticism
of the legal texts of the seven member countries of the Community to analyze
the data. The results reveal that the legislative systems of these different
Community member states, despite the will expressed in the treaty establishing
this Community to grant freedom of movement within the Community, are not
uniformly clear-cut on the work of Community nationals. As a result, the
enforcement of their pension rights is called into question. Among the 7
countries, Kenyan legislation provides for equality of opportunity in the
recruitment of workers, and organizes retirement in such a way as to protect
the interests of the worker going into retirement. In Rwanda, retiring workers
receive their retirement benefits in full, while in other countries, they
receive periodic contributions from other members of the social security
institution of which they are a member.