HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 864773,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/864773/?format=api",
"text_counter": 479,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Farhiya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13179,
"legal_name": "Farhiya Ali Haji",
"slug": "farhiya-ali-haji"
},
"content": "end of the day, we are talking about people‟s retirement. Therefore, the people concerned should be given an opportunity to make decisions on who sits in that board of trustees. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is the other bit on appointing a custodian, fund manager and administrator in Clause 14(2)(b). For me, we should either keep an Administrator or a CEO, but you cannot combine the two. This is because you either have a CEO who appoints staff to monitor the distribution of the cost and all that and have an external administrator keeping the records and everything else. However, you cannot have an Administrator and a CEO who are staff members. In terms of the Fund manager as a custodian, this is important because the custodian is usually like a bank that keeps the custody of the funds and does reconciliation. Therefore, that needs to be defined according to the Retirements Benefit Act so that there is no ambiguity of this being an individual person. It should be the same case with the Fund manager, which should also be defined accurately according to the Retirements Benefits Act. This is because these fund managers are supposed to trade in the stock exchange and all that. It, therefore, needs an institution that is registered to carry out that function appropriately. Consequently, we do not want an individual staff doing that function. It is also about the separation of powers in terms of having those who invest being separate from those who oversee the administration of this Fund. Madam Temporary Speaker, the other thing that I want bring to the attention of this House is Clauses 15(2) and (3), which state- “The Board may co-opt persons to committees established under subsection (1) for a particular reason, such a person shall hold office for such a period as the Board may determine.” It goes further in subsection 3 to say- “The persons co-opted in to a committee under subsection (2) shall not be more than three.” Remember that if we co-opt three people, all these people will be earning sitting allowances every time there is a sitting. It is, therefore, my considered opinion that the people so co-opted should be those bringing in a specific skill that is required. Often, such co-opted people are sometimes either finance experts, auditors or lawyers. If that is what is required, then that should be provided for within the Act. However, at any given time, this Scheme should not co-opt more than one person. Madam Temporary Speaker, Clause 16 states that- “The trustees shall be paid such remuneration as the Board might from time to time determine in consultation with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.” As much as I agree that the remuneration could be just sitting allowances, I recommend that we be more specific. The way we know Kenyans, if you give them a window of remuneration, they will first of all remunerate everybody a salary on a monthly basis and then, besides that, they will also give themselves sitting allowances. This should, therefore, be amended to read “sitting allowance” so that it can be very specific. Madam Temporary Speaker, Clause 18 states that- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}