A Senate committee has asked the National Treasury to set up a multi-agency taskforce to establish the actual pension liabilities owed to staff by the defunct local authorities and county governments.
This is after the inquiry by the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee received conflicting amounts of the unremitted funds from the pension schemes and the Council of Governors (CoG).
The committee said it got concerned after the pension schemes placed the unremitted amount at Sh80.1 billion while CoG stated the owed amount stands at Sh40.5 billion.
Presenting the report in the Senate, committee chairman and Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi said his team wants the National Treasury to set up the taskforce within 30 days after the House approves its recommendation.
Further, Osotsi said the taskforce should make a weekly report to the Senate to enable the House to track its operations.
Osotsi also said his committee wants the taskforce to make its final findings after 60 days.
The report that is now before the Senate awaiting division has made a recommendation requiring the National Treasury CS Prof Njuguna Ndung'u to have the taskforce gazetted to give it the legal backing and funding to undertake the task.
Senator Osotsi said the multi-agency taskforce should consist of a representative of the National Treasury, Attorney General, County Pensions Fund, Laptrust and Lapfund.
Other representatives are the Controller of Budget (CoB), National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), County Assemblies Forum (CAF) and CoG.
Osotsi said his committee noted great discrepancies in the outstanding non-remittances.
This, Senator Osotsi said, calls for the need for further analysis and reconciliation.
NSSF on its part told the committee is owed an unremitted amount of about Sh1.9 billion.
"County governments have a problem with remittance of pension deductions. The problem is two-fold; non-remittance by defunct local authorities and non-remittance by county governments," Osotsi said.
He went on:
"This is why my committee decided to conduct an inquiry into this matter. CoG has failed to honour these liabilities on statutory obligations."
"As a result, pensioners are languishing in poverty. Some of them have passed on while others have been staging demonstrations at the Lapfund and County Pensions Fund offices," he added.
Senator Osotsi urged the House to approve the report, noting that it will help unlock the matter and save pensioners who worked under the defunct local authorities and county governments.
