Retired and retiring county staff can now hope for a better life in retirement after National Treasury CS John Mbadi formed a team to unlock Sh60 billion owed to pension firms.
The 18-member multi-agency taskforce on Non-Remittance of Pension Deductions to Pension Schemes by County Governments seeks to determine the actual pension arrears and develop a strategy to clear them.
“The object of the appointment of the taskforce is to actualise the government’s commitment to the timely remittance of pension deductions to pension schemes by county government entities,” Mbadi said in a gazette notice.
This development follows a Senate resolution to have the Treasury form a team to explore ways of clearing the arrears. This is after the Senate County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee chaired by Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi probed the huge unremitted deductions.
“County governments have a problem with remittance of pension deductions. The problem is two-fold; non-remittance by defunct local authorities and non-remittance by county governments,” Osotsi said.
In the gazette notice published last Friday, Mbadi appointed Budget, Fiscal and Economic Affairs at the Treasury, Albert Mwenda, as the chairman of the taskforce.
The members are; National Treasury’s director of pensions Albert Kagika, Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Department director Samuel Kiptorus and Bernice Mwangi from the office of the Attorney General. Others are Theodora Ochichi from the Office of the Controller of Budget, David Kitetu from the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee and Moses Waitara from the Local Authorities Provident Fund.
Also sitting in the panel are Jackson Nguthu from the Retirement Benefits Authority, Austine Munene from the County Assemblies Forum and George Okioma from the County Pension Fund. Christopher Mitei from the County Pension Fund/Local Authorities Pensions Trust Team Lead, Isaac Koech from County Pension Fund, Legal and Technical Support and Hillary Mwaita from the National Social Security Fund also in the team.
Others are Beth Ndung’u from the National Treasury, Joseph Eshiwani from the Treasury’s Accounting Services, Michael Obonyo from the Treasury’s Pensions Department, Joseph Mbatha from the Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Department and Carolyne Mage from the Council of Governors. In addition, Mbadi appointed Edna Atisa from the Treasury’s Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Department, Faith Pesa from the Treasury’s Legal Unit and Bett Benard from the Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Department.
The team is tasked with developing strategies for the implementation of the recommendations of the Senate on the Non-Remittance of Pension Deductions to Pension Schemes by County Governments.
“The taskforce will develop an appropriate formula and framework for payment of pension liabilities that will enable the clearance of outstanding pension liabilities by county governments,” Mbadi said in the notice.
The team shall submit bi-weekly reports to the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary and Senate on its activities. The Senate committee, in its tabled and approved report in the House, shows that the counties are yet to remit more than Sh80 million to pension schemes as at March 2023.
They include the Local Authorities Provident Fund (Lapfund), the Local Authorities Pension Trust (Laptrust) and the County Pension Fund (CPF).
However, an analysis by the Office of the Controller of Budget of the data on outstanding pension contributions shows that arrears declared by the counties differ from what is disclosed by the pension firms.
Total figures from the schemes show that the devolved units are yet to pay Sh85.05 billion which comprises Sh48.79 billion owed to LapFund, Sh32.35 billion owed to LapTrust and Sh3.91 billion owed to CPF.