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{
"id": 1274752,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
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"legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
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"content": "compensation equivalent to benefits defined on Section 6(4) of the PSSS Act, and Section 10(1-6) and Table (7) of the Human Resource Policies and Procedure Manual for Public Service of 2016. I would like to highlight that teachers, who form the bulk of the civil servants, have never been provided with the above benefits. Over 4,094 teachers have died since the year 2016 and over 30,000 have recorded occupational illnesses and injuries. The estimated value of compensation that is legally due to the teachers’ next of kin is in excess of Kshs25 billion. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, further, the disciplined services (NPS and the Kenya Prison Service) too have not been fully compensated to date. For instance, there exists over 1,000 deaths and disability claims pertaining to a period from 2016 to 2018 that are still outstanding yet--- Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me to repeat that. Further, the disciplined services, which are the National Police Service and the Kenya Prison Services have not been fully compensated to date. For instance, there exists over 1,000 deaths and disability claims pertaining to the period from 2016 to 2018 that are still outstanding, yet the Government had procured insurance covers to cater for the above benefits. Further, for the 2021/2022 Financial Year, the National Police Service and the Kenya Prison Services were provided with a one-year benefit by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) insurer, as opposed to the five-years life and disability benefit as per the Public Service Supernatural Scheme (PSSS) Act. The Judiciary has also not procured the insurance benefit for their staff, in line with the Act. The financial exposure to the Government arising from such errors and omissions is quite huge, and if any of the public servants or the next of kin of the deceased public servants were to resort to legal redress, this would be a huge embarrassment to the Government of the day. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, to safeguard the rights of every public servant in line with the Constitution and the Employment contract, which is in line with the Kenya’s labour Laws that govern the relations between the employer and the employees, the Government through the Ministry of Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action, and the National Treasury and Economic Planning, must fully enforce compliance with the PSSS Act No.8 of 2012 and the Human Resource and Procedures Manual of May, 2016. Finally, the Senate and by extension the National Assembly, must oversight the Government and ensure that the above is implemented. It is important to note that non- compliance to the above requirement exposes the Government to financial losses, as the Government will have to settle claims from its Exchequer. Therefore, this is a matter that I would like to plead with you to--- I brought this matter under Standing Order No.52 (1) because I wanted to lay out the foundation for Members to understand. I would like to plead with you to apply your discretion, so that it saves me time from bringing a Statement under Standing Order No.53, to commit this Statement to the Senate’s Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare. This is so that these teachers, particularly the families of the over 4,094 teachers who have died and have not been compensated, can be compensated."
}