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Yatani's remarks mirror similar sentiments expressed by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya who on Tuesday said he will not shy away or be intimated when it comes to engaging in matters politics/FILE

County News

Yatani summoned over delayed payment of pension benefits to councilors

NAIROBI, Kenya Sept 22 – National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has been summoned to appear before the Senate Committee on Labour on Thursday so that he can give details on the payment of a one-off honorarium and monthly pension to the former councilors.

Councilors served as lawmakers under defunct local authorities in municipalities who place was taken up by ward representatives in counties following the enactment of a new Constitution in 2010.

The Committee Chairman Johnson Sakaja issued the directive after Yatani failed to honour an invitation for the third time while citing an emergency meeting at State House.

“Once we have agreed with the National Treasury on Thursday, then the details of the numbers, the audit and the administrative process to get where they are and their contacts etc, will form the agenda of the next meeting, so that it is not about speculation but about specifics and you might find that the amount might change unfortunately now that they are fewer but the kitty is the same,” he said.

Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui and his Devolution counterpart Eugene Wamalwa told the Committee that they had submitted a proposal for the former councilors to receive Sh30,000 monthly stipend or Sh1.5 million one-off payment but the National Treasury felt the figure would further burden the public sector pension bill.

Chelugui said an inter-ministerial task-force looking into the matter had proposed that only councilors who had served for 4 terms or 20 years should benefit from the package.

“We found that to be unfair, we wanted them treated as all the other elected leaders such as MPs and Governors. So we felt that all those who served deserved this government support so that they retire honourably. I have seen this in my ministry where social protection plays a big role in life expectancy,” the Labour CS stated.

Wamalwa on his part expressed confidence that an amicable on the matter which has been dragging since 2013 – when the devolve units came into effect – will finally be settled within a period of two weeks.

“What remains is a matter of ‘not if’ but ‘when and how much’. We are at the tail-end of this process and the National Treasury is really to come back to us on this and I would want to join my colleague in asking the Senate to give us may be just a week so that National Treasury can thrash out these issues and after that when we come back to you we will be dealing with specifics,” the Devolution CS stated.

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The over 12,000 former councilors represented by Geoffrey Gitau and Taraiya Ole Kores urged saying  many former councilors are living in abject poverty, yet they worked for the country tirelessly.

Gitau shocked the Committee after he stated that the Association is losing at least a councilor every week.

“We did a census among ourselves and found that we were 12,000 but as at now, we are 8,000 councilors alive, meaning we have lost 4,000. It is really saddening because for instance last week, I buried two councilors on the same day. We lost even our National Chairman two week ago, it is really saddening. I would like to emphasize that time is of the essence,” the former councilor narrated.

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