Retirement shouldn’t be a death sentence
By Editorial.Team, January 26, 2024One of the rallying calls by President William Ruto during his election campaigns was on the need for Kenyans to inculcate the culture of saving for retirement.
It was indeed quite refreshing when the President, while addressing a joint parliamentary session on his legislative agenda, expressed his concern over the welfare of the social security infrastructure.
He was referring to both the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and private pensions in which retirees were not receiving their pensions on time and have no health insurance cover. Pensioners also have no legislation to protect them, their welfare and their rights.
Ruto said the current social security plan only ‘benefits’ people in formal employment to the exclusion of a vast majority of Kenyans.
He proposed a national savings drive to encourage those in the informal sector to set up retirement saving plans with the government offering to contribute a shilling for every two saved.
Reports from studies indicate that more than 70 per cent of retirees from the public service are unhappy with services they receive, especially processing and disbursement of retirement benefits.
Delay in payment of pensions, bureaucracy, inefficient and uncooperative officers, corruption and lack of transparency in calculating benefits are some of the reasons cited for dissatisfaction.
For former public servants, accessing pensions is a perennial problem with many compelled to make endless trips to public offices in pursuit of what is rightfully theirs.
As claimed by some former civil servants in a story carried by People Daily yesterday it takes more than three years for a retiree to access retirement benefits.
The situation is even more dire in the private sector, where retirees are sent off with lavish farewell parties and bicycles, wheelbarrows, little pocket money and in other cases, empty-handed.
After many years of toil, many retire to their homes empty-handed to fight vagaries of old age, sickness and poverty.
Most private firms have no retirement package for staffers, which leaves them exposed in old age.
That is why the government should ensure retirees from public service receive their pension on time and should also provide them with access to affordable healthcare.