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{
    "id": 803038,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/803038/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 210,
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    "content": "people who work in those counties. If that is the situation in the two counties that I have used as an example, we would question. If an employee of Isiolo County or Nairobi County was to retire today, how will his or her accumulated benefits or send-home package be computed? There is a problem there. Even the governors accept that it will be difficult to compute an accurate pension for a county employee who used to work for the defunct local authorities and now wants to retire. We should not let employees of counties suffer when the ‘big boys,’ - the medium and top dogs in counties - are running around with billions of shillings through shady deals. It is that sweeper, revenue collector, clerk, secretary and driver that are the true drivers of devolution. They are the ones who do the heavy lifting and take on the greater burden to ensure that county governments function. So, we must always remember and put them on top of mind. If you look at the state of retirement benefits, the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) has tried to bring in sanity in the sector. Kenya’s RBA has been emulated. At some point in my life, I worked in the neighbouring country of Uganda, which did not have any legislation that set up an authority on retirement benefits. Every time they were setting up occupational retirement schemes, they would benchmark on the Kenyan example. Kenya has many things that neighbouring countries can learn from. Earlier on, I heard Sen. Pareno say that Zambians or Malawians have come to Kenya to benchmark on corruption. I hope that they are benchmarking on anti-corruption rather than engaging in the act of corruption. When it comes to retirement benefits, there is a lot that Kenya can teach neighbouring countries and Uganda is one of them. Right now, they have done their Retirement Benefits Act, which I am not sure whether it has been enacted. They borrowed heavily on the Kenyan experience. One of the earlier contributors, the Senator for Machakos, talked about ensuring that there are guidelines on how to invest the funds that will be held on behalf of employees. The RBA has done a great job by trying to define portfolio balance and guide some of the retirement benefits schemes on how to use the money that they are keeping for employees. However, there are problems still abound. Some of the retirement benefits schemes are still investing money in banks that collapse. When they put money in banks that subsequently collapse, for example, the Chase Bank and Imperial Banks of this world, employees or beneficiaries are left thoroughly exposed. Kenya Railways has one of the richest retirement schemes in this country. It is estimated that the Kenya Railways Staff Pensions Fund is worth more than Kshs30 billion in terms of asset base. Most of it is in form of land in Nairobi, and in almost every other town where the railway passes, there is some land that was set aside for employees of Kenya Railways. However, there has been so much theft, mismanagement and corruption. Wrangles are the order of the day when it comes to management of pension benefits for Kenya Railways staff to an extent that it is only the trustees and the managers of these funds who are doing well, yet the hundreds or thousands of people who sacrificed their lives to ensure that we have a functional railway are wallowing in poverty. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, just the other day, we heard that Mariakani Estate, which is a prime piece of property in Nairobi County, was transferred to LAPTRUST or LAPFUND to offset a debt incurred over the years. Some of the debts, assets and liability 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."
}