Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 810801,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/810801/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 349,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "of serving in the public sector, we know that the salaries they earn are not good enough. In retirement, whether they opt to take early retirement or retire on the attainment of the mandatory retirement age, many of them lead lives which are nothing to write home about. Therefore, this Bill in its current form - of course, there are various areas which require to be amended, which as other Members have stated, we need to look into - has clearly spelt out the concerns of public servants at county governments in terms of how their retirement benefits and pensions will be handled. I would like to speak to a few clauses in the proposed Bill. Looking at Part II on the establishment of the county governments retirement scheme and the board of trustees, I have a very strong feeling that in as much as this is a scheme for county governments’ workers, the National Treasury is a key stakeholder that we need its representation on the board of trustees. For those who are proposed to sit on the board of trustees, it is important to appreciate that it reflects a broad spectrum of the various stakeholders, the COG and the County Public Service Board. At the county level, we have the county executive and the county assembly. The staff of those two arms of county governments are the core members of this proposed scheme. Therefore, having representation of the CoG as well as the County Public Service Board and the County Assembly is something which we need to appreciate and see it positively. It is also important to have the representation of a trade union umbrella representing public servants. If we leave that open, I do not know how it will look like, but if we have a county government trade union, it may be a good thing to specify it. I do not think there are many county government trade unions in the country. The Bill provides for three persons to be nominated by employees of the county governments. I do not know how those ones will be identified because there are 47 counties and very many employees. Unless there is a very clear framework on how to arrive at the three representatives of the employees, it may not be easy for the appointing authority, which according to the proposed law, is the CS for the National Treasury who is supposed to identify the three. Apart from balancing gender, which is a constitutional requirement and most of the time is taken to be given, I strongly agree with the concern raised by a Member that we probably need to put in a clause at the point when we are considering amendments so that out of those who are appointed to sit on the board of trustees, there is a representative of persons living with disabilities. There is also the aspect of the election of the chair and the vice chair of the board. We need to probably propose that the two should not be of the same gender. If the chair is female, the vice chair should be male and vice versa. There is merit in allowing the board of trustees to elect the chair themselves. There is also the downside. We need to look at both sides and see which one is better in terms of ensuring that the chair is independent and is able to secure the funds meant for our retirees. Looking at the appointment of the CEO, the qualifications which are spelt out are very important because we need to have capable Kenyan men and women, with the requisite technical skills and managerial experience to manage the fund. Putting it that they must meet the requirements of the Leadership and Integrity Act in the Bill is very important. Looking at the tenure of the board of trustees, the condition of the three-year term which is renewable but on the basis of performance, is also very important. The other very important thing, which I appreciate, is the aspect of staggering the appointment of the members of the board of trustees, so that at any given time, we avoid a situation where all the members have their terms coming to an end and, therefore, we have a vacuum. The staggering process will help the board to have continuity and The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}