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Many former councillors in the defunct local authorities have died without being paid their dues.

Appearing before the Senate Labour and Social Welfare Committee chaired by Julius Murgor (West Pokot),  Former Councilors National Forum chairperson William Komen said it was unfortunate that many of their colleagues had died without benefitting from the money and pleaded with the government to deal with the matter once and for all.

The committee was told that most of the councillors who served in different times between 1963 and 2012 were leading destitute lives despite being owed cumulatively around Sh2.4 billion by the National Treasury.

Members of the committee were taken aback by the failure of Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u and his Labour counterpart Florence Bore to appear before them to explain how far the process of paying the politicians the honorarium had gone.

“We have been informed that the two Cabinet Secretaries could not make it due to other pressing engagements. We only needed them briefly to tell us when the former 12,000 councillors will get the pay they have been pursuing since 2013,” said Murgor.

Thirty dead

The committee wants an expeditious payment of the one-off honorarium to 12,000 former councillors where each one is to receive Sh200,000.

According to Komen, they had met President William Ruto when he served as the deputy president and he understood their plight, and asked him to order the National Treasury to release the money due to them.

He said that this year alone 30 former councillors had died across the country.

Komen said they had visited 41 counties to meet with their colleagues and found out that most of them were living in poverty.

“We pray that our government will consider this matter as urgent since it is not fair for us to becoming to Nairobi every now and then to pursue a matter which only requires the commitment of the national Treasury to dispense with. We ask the President to intervene,” said Komen.

Health insurance

Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua had sought a statement on the status of implementation of the payments as resolved by the Senate on October 18, 2018.

The decision was based on recommendations of the Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare on a Petition by former councillors.

Wambua wanted to know whether the government would consider enrolling the former councilors and their spouses on the National Hospital Insurance Fund scheme.

At Independence, councilors earned Sh60, in 1983 they were paid Sh1,200 and in 2012 they were earning Sh25,000.

Samson Cherargei (Nandi) said the Senate will pursue the matter to ensure senior citizens were accorded the respect they deserve.

Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo was moved to tears when he was shown photos of a former councillor dressed smartly while in office and a recent one showing him living in poverty.

Madzayo said one of his uncles is a former councilor and was living in poverty.

“I have listened to the presentation made by the representatives of the 12,000 former councillors and I feel that they were addressing me directly. It is our duty to ensure that they get Sh200,000 each as appreciation for their services to the nation,” said Madzayo.

The group’s national chairperson Geoffrey Gitau told the committee 4,000 former councillors had died before benefitting from the money.

Gitau said the former councillors had initially sought an honorarium of Sh1.2 million each which cumulatively could have been Sh14.4 billion which, he said, was not much to ask from the government and the people of Kenya that they had served for many years.

He said a task force formed to look into their welfare recommended that they be paid Sh550,000 each but the National Treasury slashed it to Sh200,000.

“Most councillors served at a time when there was no Constituency Development Fund or counties therefore the little money they got went into fundraisers for various programmes in their areas leaving them with nothing for their families. Kindly help us get this honorarium payment,” said Gitau.