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{
    "id": 853026,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/853026/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 181,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mbeere North, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Charles Njagagua",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2336,
        "legal_name": "Charles Muriuki Njagagua",
        "slug": "charles-muriuki-njagagua"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Deputy Speaker, thank you for that well considered ruling. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I beg to move that the County Pension Scheme Bill, National Assembly Bill No. 49 of 2017, be now read a Second Time. The main crux of the Bill is that after the promulgation of the Constitution in 2010, there was no single piece of legislation that was going to cater for pensioners in county governments. As we speak today, many employees of the county governments do not save their money. We must appreciate that the benefits of saving are myriad. We have seen a situation where former councillors have petitioned this Parliament that they have not been paid their pension. I will approach this matter in a three-pronged manner. I will give the global picture on pensions, pension schemes and savings as they are in Kenya and in this current Bill. We appreciate that the easiest form of growing pensioners’ money is through savings. We have a situation in our country where people who come to invest in our blue chip companies in the stock exchange use pension funds from outside this country. Insurance schemes can actually use pensioners’ money as a form of saving and grow the pensioners’ savings. The worst bit of our savings is that our pension schemes invest in real estate and land and that is money that is not easily available when needed. That is why I am proposing in the Bill that we must encourage the county employees to save. The Bill establishes the County Pension Scheme and in it are relevant clauses on interpretation. At the same time, the County Pension Scheme will be administered by a board. The board will have trustees who will be appointed by the Cabinet Secretary. For one to qualify to be a trustee, one must meet certain key qualifications like being a holder of a degree from a recognised university in Kenya. Such a member must be qualified in one of the following disciplines: Law, Economics, Finance, Agriculture, Nursing, Medicine and Actuarial Science. For one to be a trustee member, in addition, one must meet the qualifications set out in Chapter Six of the Constitution so that we do not have persons with wanting qualifications managing people’s pensions and money"
}