Kitwe Magistrate Convicts two Employers for Non-Registration with NAPSA

The Kitwe Magistrate court has fined and sentenced two proprietors of nightclubs to community service after finding them with the offence of failure to register as employers with the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) contrary to the National Pension Scheme (NPS) Act No. 40 of 1996. The two employers -The Magnet and Club Profile of Buchi township in Kitwe were found to have been in operating without registering with NAPSA, and consequently were not remitting statutory monthly contributions for their employees. The employers were hence given five days after inspection to regularize their status and register with NAPSA, a directive which they did not adhere to.

The court found the two employers to be in contravention with the provisions of NPS Act No. 40 and were subsequently fined and ordered to conduct sensitization on NAPSA’s mandate among other employers with similar businesses failure to which they would be sentenced to one-month imprisonment.

Commenting on the court’s ruling, NAPSA Director General Mr. Yollard Kachinda said the court’s decision should serve as a lesson to all other would be defaulting employers. “As NAPSA, we do not take pleasure in taking law suits against the employers. We would rather enhance employers’ productivity by encouraging dialogue to ensure an amicable settlement of matters. However, we will not hesitate to prosecute employers who do not want to comply with the law, thereby putting the future of their employees and our members at risk”, said Mr. Kachinda.

He urged employers to abide by the NPS Act to avoid lawsuits.

“I would like to urge employers to comply with the law by ensuring that they correctly register their employees within 30 days of employing them and to remit their NAPSA contributions on time every month. In the same vein, employees should take keen interest in their social security and ensure that they are registered with NAPSA and that their contributions that are being deducted from their pay are remitted to NAPSA on time,” advised Mr. Kachinda.

The conviction of the two proprietors comes in the wake of NAPSA’s intensified random and routine inspections countrywide to enforce compliance.

The National Pension Scheme Authority has introduced a number of tools through which members can transact with the Authority. These include; Customer call Centre reachable on +260 211 395000, eNAPSA (www.napsarestore3.azurewebsites.net), NAPSA Mobile App, short code *677# and toll free line 677. These platforms are aimed at making it easy for employers to meet their obligations and for members to keep track of their contributions and benefits information.

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Issued by:

Head Corporate Affairs

National Pension Scheme Authority

Telephone: 0211395016

Email: sinyangwece@napsarestore3.azurewebsites.net

www.napsarestore3.azurewebsites.net