ONESMUS MUTIO: Varsity pension schemes on verge of collapse

The pensions crisis at the University of Nairobi is just an example. Almost all public universities’ pension schemes are nearing collapse. Most of them are just a shell.

Even the component they were supposed to contribute – pension is supposed to be contributed at the rate of 10 per cent of basic salary by pensioner, and 20 per cent by the employer – is not remitted.

Almost all public universities neither contribute their portion of the bill nor, worse still, remit the amounts they have deducted from contributors.

I know for a fact that Multimedia University has not remitted a single coin since 2016 in contribution to the pension scheme. Universities hide behind excuses that they don’t get capitation from the government. They have all manner of excuses but the reality on the ground is just the schemes have collapsed or are just there.

When someone retires, the university remits all his money so that they settle their respective dues. But you end up losing because the money comes without interest, which it would have earned had it been remitted years back. Because one is already gone, they have no power to make further claims to the university.

In many cases, we have hoped that the Retirement Benefits Authority would come to our rescue. Sadly, they do nothing. RBA should follow up and ensure employers remit the money. Why would they allow an employer to default for over 10 years? The RBA has failed us in this respect.

We cannot bargain on my component because it is already deducted from my payslip. My expectation would be that if the universities delay in remitting their share of contributions, my 10 per cent should be remitted the moment salaries hit our accounts. Even if their bit delays, it should not take the 10 or more years as is our case.

This is something that is really affecting universities, as you know most of them are in a financial mess. The only consolation is that most lecturers retire at the age of 75 years. If we were to retire at 60, most would die.

UASU organising secretary spoke to the Star

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