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{
    "id": 1144710,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1144710/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 229,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bondo, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Gideon Ochanda",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1264,
        "legal_name": "Gideon Ochanda Ogolla",
        "slug": "gideon-ochanda-ogolla"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. From what I have been hearing from most Members, it is like pension is a favour. Pensions are not favours. Immediately one is employed under pensionable terms, that person starts paying himself; he contributes to this fund from day one to the end of his employment when he retires. So, it is actually your money. It is not a favour. It is absurd for any employer, including the Government, to treat pension as a favour. You contribute a bit and your employer contributes a bit. Each year, every employer knows how many of their staff are retiring. When they know so and so is retiring this year, definitely preparation for that person’s pension needs to start. So, this idea that you want to wait until somebody is retired and goes home before you start processing their pension is not right. This is something that needs to be done much earlier because retirement is not an accident. Retirement is clear and every employer knows when each one of their employees is going to retire. So, pension is not a favour. It is one’s contribution. If it is the part of the employer that has been having a problem, then the contribution done by the pensioner needs to be paid immediately upon retirement. If you put it together with the contribution of the employer and the process takes too long, then there is a problem. The whole idea of 90 days is fine, but I think it is not good enough. We are treating pension as though it is a favour. The other thing alluded to is that there is double tragedy in terms of handling pension by beneficiaries when a pensioner dies. That is another big hurdle. We need to be very clear. Issues of pension upon death need to be arranged in a manner that we put the other assets aside and these are supposed to be quick recoveries – things that beneficiaries need to recover very quickly other than waiting for too long. You can imagine if an alive pensioner cannot easily get his money, what of when he is dead? We need to be serious. People are suffering. There are people who worked for Kenya Airways who have not been paid. There are people who were teachers but have not been paid for a long time. If you fail to get your pension in 10 years and you retired at 60, chances of you dying are very high. The Government needs to look at this matter more seriously than what we are seeing. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}