NAIROBI, Kenya Sep 30 – Over 12,000 former councillors who have been pushing for the payment of a one off honorarium and monthly pension will have to wait until next year to receive the funds amounting to Sh4.4 billion.
This is after National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani told the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare that due to the current difficult economic situation, the government is not able to allocate money to pay the former councilors.
“In view of the constrained fiscal space the Country is currently operating in, the National Treasury will factor the proposed payments in the Budget for the ensuing Financial Year,” Yatani said when he met the committee on Thursday.
The National Treasury CS cited an inter-agency task-force report which analyzed data received from the 47 County Assemblies and other government agencies and established that the former councillors totaled 12,247 and not 12,000 as estimated by the Senate.
“It was noted that it would cost Sh18,370,500,000 to pay the 12,247 former councillors a one-off gratuity/lump sum payment at the rate of Sh1,500,000 as recommended by the Senate. The recommended monthly pension would cost Sh4,408,920,000 in the first year of implementation , computed at the rate of Sh30,000 per month for each beneficiary.
In total therefore, it would cost the exchequer Sh22,779,420,000, being the lump sum plus the monthly pension, in the first year of implementation of the Senate resolution. Further, to implement the monthly pension as recommended, at least Sh4,408,902,000 would have to be budgeted for and allocated yearly,” he stated.
Yatani said 328 former councilors who served 20 years and more under defunct local authorities and city municipalities will be paid a cumulative sum of Sh218 billion, while 11,919 former councillors who served less than those four years will be paid a gratuity of Sh200,000 each.
He said the government had factored Sh2.38 billion to pay the former councilors.
“It’s quite easy to say that I put it in the Supplementary Budget, but that will not be realistic. We cannot give what we cannot afford,” Yatani explained.
The National Treasury further committed to fast track the National Retirement Benefits Policy in order to bring uniformity in pension provisions.
“All former councillors will be enrolled in the Inua Jamii Programme upon age eligibility. The implementing agencies will initiate the process of establishing the necessary legal and policy instruments to facilitate the payments,” Yatani said in a presentation before the Senate team.
Senate Labour and Social Welfare Committee Chairperson Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi) and outgoing Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa urged the former councilors to accept what they have been offered but pledged to engage the Treasury to increase the allocation.
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