On the first day of his two months’ leave pending retirement, Pato woke up at about 5:00 am to go nowhere and to do nothing. He stayed in bed coaxing sleep for another round, which was not forthcoming.

When his spouse had left for work and his children headed for classes at campus, Pato dragged himself to take breakfast in the dining room.

His family members were not aware of the purpose of the long leave. Neither was Pato ready to disclose that he was engaged in a retirement test drive.

After breakfast, he returned to bed and spent some time on many of his social media accounts before falling asleep. He woke up at about 1:30 pm to take lunch and returned to bed again.

At 6 o’clock in the evening, he wore sports gear and went jogging in the neighbourhood. Before going to bed at 11:00 pm, he watched TV programmes that happened to be on air.

For a week, Pato was exceedingly bored following the same routine of spending free time.

On one Monday morning, Pato called Harry Katumba, who was the Finance Manager at Trulogic, for an evening meeting at their usual pub near Trulogic Plaza.

Harry, who was not enthusiastic about the meeting, explained that he was working overtime to finalise the overdue quarterly financial report.

Pato asked him: “Then, when shall we meet?” Harry did not suggest a date but promised to call Pato the following day. He did not call.

Formal invitation

Nursing his idleness, Pato called Harry who neither picked the call nor returned it. Communication between the two had stalled because they no longer had anything in common.

From his Facebook account, Pato found out two events which were to be held in the next consecutive weeks. The events did not require any formal invitation.

To kill time, he attended both events making contributions to topical issues from a lay person’s point of view.Out of social courtesy, session moderators tolerated his outrageous views.

To avoid potential embarrassments, Pato decided not to attend similar events in future. When Pato proceeded for leave, his de facto deputy, Mercy Laito, the Senior Transport Officer, was appointed as acting Logistics Manager.

Pato used to call her once in a while to know how work was going on in the department. Overcome with idleness, Pato visited Mercy three times in case he could assist her carry out any urgent projects.

Since Mercy did not have such work, she politely advised Pato to keep busy in the company library.

One day in the middle of the leave, Pato visited two warehouse managers and three Trulogic’s clients. On learning that Pato was leaving Trulogic, they gave him a cold shoulder.

Surprised, Pato appreciated that past friendly interactions with these people were limited to business only. Since Pato was no longer the Logistics Manager at Trulogic, few people entertained his presence.

Engulfed with self-pity, Pato realised that his relevance had vanished into thin air.

Pension administrator
Pato used to spend many hours of the day ruminating about his retirement money and expenditures in waiting. To obtain the actual figures of his forthcoming lump sums, he first visited the nearest National Social Security Fund (NSSF) branch.

A desk officer inquired whether he wanted to withdraw his contributions. He replied: “Not yet, I am hopeful that my employer will extend my contract for another three years.”

The next day, Pato visited the pension administrator of Trulogic’s Pension Fund for a statement of his account. On seeing the net amount he was to receive, he nearly tore the statement.

It was not enough to meet his immediate and near future financial commitments. A composed funds administrator told him: “Money due to a retiree depends on total contributions that were submitted by both the employer and the employee.

For instance, if an employer contributed 15 per cent of an employee’s basic salary and the employee set aside 7.5 per cent only, the two combined shall be the final payment including interest and excluding taxes due.

No more or less.”
The administrator explained that employees who increased their contribution over time ended up with a big lump sum.

She added: “For instance, employees in their 20s should, based on basic salary, contribute 7.5 per cent; 9 per cent in their 30s; 12 per cent in their 40s and 15 per cent or more in their 50s.”

Pato regretted that he had contributed only 7.5 per cent of his basic salary to the fund throughout his working life.

As the leave days were decreasing fast, Pato became busy visiting organisations that owed him money. At Trulogic Sacco, he requested the manager to sell his meagre shares.

He applied to withdraw his deposits whose amount was not worth smiling home about.Pato had joined the Sacco late.

In hindsight, he wished he had tamed his luxurious spending habits. A Sacco officer tried to convince Pato to roll over his deposits for future interest payments but he declined the offer. The officer was not aware of Pato’s mind-boggling overdue debts.

Imminent retirement
Although his bungalow in the rural area was still incomplete, Pato paid a visit to his aging parents. He kept them in the dark on his imminent retirement.

A few relatives and friends were heard inquiring about job opportunities in his company in Nairobi.

To dump their expectations into oblivion, he narrated how the Covid-19 pandemic had caused unemployment which could take time to reverse.

One curious relative asked him when he would retire to return home and give back to society. Pato confidently said: “Expect me in three years’ time. Meanwhile, I shall be making frequent visits to familiarise myself with socio-economic problems bedeviling this place.”

The relative hinted that in retirement Pato would be a prospective candidate for the many elective positions in the county. To vie for such seats, he would require huge sums of money and electioneering skills.

The second week before the end of Pato’s leave seemed shorter than the previous ones. He dreaded returning to the office for formal clearance and a possible farewell party.

Whenever the thought of disclosing his retirement to family members crossed his mind, he shelved it hoping that CEO Ben would, at the eleventh hour, renew his contract.

From his behaviour and the number of journeys he made to the village, Pato’s unsuspecting family members guessed that something fishy was in the offing.

But none dared to confront him for fear of being subjected to his usual outbursts. On a Monday of the last week of his leave, Pato received an invitation to his farewell party.

The writer is HRD Consultant and Author of Transition into Retirement,
[email protected]