Supreme Court to give way forward on NSSF suit March 6

The association says implementation of the Act poses a serious threat of monopoly

In Summary
  • The NSSF act increases monthly contributions to the NSSF by 98 per cent (that is from Sh200 to Sh2160).
  • The act provides for further increases in subsequent years.
NSSF Building, NAIROBI/FILE
NSSF Building, NAIROBI/FILE

The Supreme Court will on March 6 give directions in a case in which pensioners are seeking to stop the state from effecting the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) contributions.

The matter came up in court on Wednesday afternoon where the Supreme Court's Registrar Bernard Kasavuli directed the parties in the case to file the required documents before march 6.

AdChoices
ADVERTISING
 

The County Pensioners Association moved to the Supreme Court following a decision by the Court of Appeal that set the motion for the NSSF to increase workers’ monthly deductions from March 9, 2023.

The NSSF act increases monthly contributions to the NSSF by 98 per cent (that is from Sh200 to Sh2160).

The act provides for further increases in subsequent years.

The association represents 6,000 retirees who were contributors to the local authorities' pensions trust.

The association says implementation of the Act poses a serious threat of monopoly and it will impoverish the entire pension industry.

They want the Apex Court to bar the NSSF Board of Trustees, the Retirement Benefits Authority and the Federation of Kenya Employees (FKE) from increasing workers’ monthly deductions.

The enactment of the act triggered an avalanche of constitutional petitions before the high court and the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

As a result, 5 petitions were filed challenging the constitutionality of the act.

The petitions filed in different courts in Kenya were consolidated and heard by the ELRC Court in Nairobi.

The said court in September last year termed the Act as unconstitutional to the extent that the national assembly excluded the Senate from the enactment.

The ELRC judges in their decision also said a section of the act permitted CS Labour to usurp the constitutional mandate of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

The judges said a provision in the Act violated the right to free choice by forcing persons who were in superior pension schemes to join the NSSF.

Aggrieved with the decision, the NSSF Board of Trustees and the Attorney General appealed.

And on February 3, the appellate court set aside the ELRC decision.

The Court of Appeal held that ELRC lacked jurisdiction to determine the consolidated petitions.

The appellate court also found that the Employment and Labour Relations Court had no powers to determine the case and that the High Court should have handled the dispute.

The judges said that the Labour Relations Court can only hear matters where constitutional issues are raised in a context of an employer-employee dispute.

The judges said that the Labour Relations Court can only hear matters where constitutional issues are raised in a context of an employer-employee dispute.

WATCH: The latest videos from the Star