• City Hall through the second supplementary budget said it would spend Sh175 million on voluntary early retirement and terminal benefits to retirees.
• The workers claim the county has not allocated a budget for staff who naturally retired between 2018-19 and 2019-20 and those who are also set to retire by the end month.
Image: FILE
Nairobi county workers are now demanding benefits under the voluntary early retirement programme.
Through the Kenya County Government Workers Union, they have accused the county government of unfair labour practices, saying it acts with impunity and disregards laws and good industrial relations.
KCGWU secretary general Festus Ngari on Tuesday said City Hall has mischievously failed to acknowledge the employees' full payment, which he said amounted to Sh19 billion as of April 30.
This comes after City Hall, through the second supplementary budget, said it would spend Sh175 million on the VER programme targeting its older staff and terminal benefits for retirees.
The move was aimed at reducing its bloated wage bill and injecting new blood. However, Ngari said Sh175 million is an affront to retiring staff, dismissing it as an illegal political agenda. He said the Ann Kananu administration has wrong priorities.
“What can allocation of 175 million do for workers against Sh19 billion owed? Do you have your priorities right?" he asked.
“Why are you using wrong statistics to justify an illegal political agenda? The supplementary statement by the Budget committee mischievously failed to acknowledge the employees were owed Sh19 billion at the close of April 2021.”
He noted that the county had not allocated a budget for staff who naturally retired between the financial years of 2018-19 and 2019-20 and those who are set to retire by the end month.
Ngari further picked holes in the county plan, claiming the budget will be of no help to the staff. He alleged a scheme by the county to “mischievously" divert the allocation to a "politically related payment".
“We demand that Governor Ann Kananu pay workers their dues, both current and past, and allow the existing law to take its rightful course,” Ngari said.
In the second supplementary budget that was passed by MCAs, Sh175 million was to allow the county to initiate the much-awaited VER scheme for those aged 50 years and above.
However, Assembly Budget committee chairman Robert Mbatia said the scheme has not been implemented as staff feared they would go home without retirement packages.
“Having this amount allocated to retirees will pave the way for the rollout of the scheme. Having cleared this will be able to bring in fresh blood," he said.
The VER policy was developed in 2018 but its implementation was delayed for undisclosed reasons.
Devolution and Public Service executive Veska Kangogo said many elderly employees are to retire by June 30—the end of the current financial year.
“We have many old employees set to go home, hence the allocation. Our administration's work is to make sure their benefits are ready so that when they retire they have their money," she said.
A biometric report released in November 2019 showed that despite the acute youth unemployment in the country, only 14 per cent of the workers were in the youth bracket, translating into 1,624 of the 11,603 employees.
The workforce has 6,118 women and 5,485 men. Of the total number, 5,709 are aged 50 and above and 19 are above the retirement age of 60.
Some 2,712 workers are aged between 55 and 59; 2,978 are between 50 and 54, and 2,663 are between 45 and 49.
The report says 1,757 employees are aged between 20 and 44; 1,474 are aged below 40; while 682 are between 35 and 39. Out of the 792 young people, 621 are between 30 and 34 and 171 are below 30.
The April 2019 register indicated City Hall had 11,988 employees; however, 385 of them were not registered during the biometric listing.
Some 200 workers retired between April and November 2019, 85 were training overseas, 58 were on suspension due to disciplinary issues and 23 had died. Another 11 employees resigned during the review period.
In the Nairobi County Annual Development Plan 2021-22, staff aged 50 and above are to benefit from a Sh100 million VER scheme.
“Most of them have requested early retirement. We have been looking for funding and ensuring a policy is available and we are also up to date with their pension contributions,” Kangogo said.