Labour Minister Stephenson King says the COVID-19 pandemic has presented what he described as a perfect case for being able to restructure and create a new architecture in social coverage and social insurance.
King questioned whether the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) is adequate to deal with such a situation.
He disclosed that various stakeholders will meet in the next few weeks to make adjustments to the labour code.
But the former Prime Minister told HTS News that what is currently required are not mere adjustments to the code.
He noted the need for other pieces of legislation and institutions like the NIC
“What was done with the income support and the programme introduced by the NIC which called for a certain measure of amendment, it means that we have to look even deeper and wider at the NIC and to decide whether it should remain as merely a provident fund or a pension fund and to look at unemployment benefits, loss of income and other such benefits which are unpredicted, unforeseen and can certainly plummet any individual, any family into a quagmire of social deprivation and poverty,” the minister said.
“So it is really one that we need to look at going down the road,” King observed.
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