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{
    "id": 568317,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/568317/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 378,
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    "content": "talking of mergers, sometimes it is the personalities that come to play rather than the fundamentals that influence the decision to merge the two schemes. We are looking at one universal scheme that will be used by the 47 county governments. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, a quick check on the asset base of LAPTRUST and LAPFUND, though this might not be very accurate, tells me that LAPFUND could be controlling about Kshs21 billion in assets while LAPTRUST about Ksh24 billion. We will get the exact figures when those stakeholder consultations take place. This is about Kshs45 billion that is held in form of assets by these two bodies. This can do a lot of good. When you walk around this city, many of the new buildings coming up are owned by pension or retirement schemes. When you walk around the leafy suburbs, many of these apartments that are coming up are owned by retirement schemes. If we encourage our county employees to subscribe to one universal scheme, I foresee a situation where we will be growing our assets significantly beyond this Kshs45 billion. This pool of funds can be used to finance a lot of other initiatives within our county governments. The county governments can use these funds as the first port of call even before they go to expensive bank financing. As I have stated, our retirement benefit schemes have played a significant role in the growth of our economy. That has also been helped largely by a regulator that has been moving ahead. As at 30th June, 2014, about Kshs750 billion was held as assets by retirement benefit schemes. When you look at the Kshs750 billion, about 20 per cent of it is held by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) which is still a significant player when it comes to the pension space in this country. We need to learn lessons from NSSF and avoid making the same mistakes with this proposed retirement benefits scheme for county employees. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, NSSF has been a very good idea, but it has been misused and abused. You do not have to go very far, you just need to look at the turnover of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) at NSSF to tell you that something is wrong. We must find a way of insulating the CEO of this proposed scheme from political interference and manipulation. When you look at the Board of Trustees at NSSF, we had a situation where the Central Organisation of Trade Union (COTU) found itself fighting another amorphous trade union that had been sponsored by some parties to ensure that the voice and influence of employees within that board of trustees is diluted. In this Bill, there shall be employee representation within the Board of Trustees. However, it does not define who an employee representative is. This country has got many amorphous organisations. When you go to the education sector, you find something called parents association. When you ask when it was formed and office bearers elected, no one can tell you. You find that someone is an official of a parents association perpetually. It is as if they keep giving birth every other year. We must avoid a situation where we have amorphous organisations coming up and claiming to be employee representatives only to go and play, represent and articulate the interests of people who do not have the concerns of our workers at heart. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}