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{
    "id": 1591183,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1591183/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 169,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Government remains committed to fulfilling its obligations to retired public servants while ensuring that our pension system is modern, inclusive, efficient and sustainable. In this respect, the Government is undertaking reforms aimed at delivering faster, more transparent and citizen-friendly pension services. Key among these reforms is the re- engineering of the Pension Management Information System, which, together with the launch of a pension self-registration platform, will significantly, improve data accuracy, enhance biometric verification and reduce pension processing time from several months to less than 30 days. These reforms will also ensure real-time claims, tracking and integration with the National Identification and Payroll System, reducing errors and potential leakages. The re- engineered Pension Management System is planned for roll-out on 1st July 2025. It will transform pension administration by: 1. Enabling Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit pension claims online, at source, through integration with the Government's human resource systems. 2. Allowing pensioners and beneficiaries to access services remotely and track the status of their claims in real-time. 3. Providing automated updates to clients on the progress of their claims through system-generated notifications. On insurance reforms, to facilitate the growth of the insurance industry in Kenya, the Government will speed up the approval of the National Insurance Policy and its implementation. The policy will guide the review of the Insurance Act, which has served its purpose, albeit with progressive amendments for the last 30 years. The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) is undertaking focused training on livestock and crop insurance, targeting farmers and pastoralist communities. These efforts are aimed at improving understanding and access to agricultural insurance as a tool for mitigating climate-related risks and protecting the livelihoods of farmers and pastoralist communities. Also, the Authority is conducting a comprehensive money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment on the vulnerability of the insurance industry. This will aid in the identification of areas of improvement so as to strengthen the supervisory framework. On reforms under the education sector, The National Treasury is committed to upholding the right to education, including free and compulsory basic education as guaranteed under Article 53(b) of the Constitution of Kenya. While we are cognisant that examinations must be conducted as scheduled later this year, there is a need to undertake a critical evaluation of the costing of examinations and assess the sustainability of the programme in view of the prevailing fiscal constraints, and explore optimal options for delivering national examinations in order to ensure economy and value for money in public spending. A key consideration is the merits of public funding of examination fees for all primary and secondary school candidates, including those from well-off households, as opposed to targeting the vulnerable students in our schools. We should also explore options for making the exercise of delivering national examinations simple and affordable, without compromising the credibility of the exercise. To this end, The National Treasury is in consultation with the Ministry of Education on how best to achieve this at a minimal cost, including evaluating possible cost-sharing mechanisms. The Government remains committed to ensuring access to quality education for all children. In this regard, I assure the public and the 2025 examination candidates of our commitment to provide adequate funding for the 2025 national examinations. On the fiscal policy framework, the implementation of the 2024/2025 Budget has faced notable challenges, primarily following the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024. Its withdrawal, alongside the associated public demonstrations, adversely affected economic The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}