Former railway employees

cry wolf over stalled pay

By KEN OKABININI

FORMER employees of the defunct Kenya Railways Corporation have petitioned the president Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to intervene over the stalled pension allowances.

The over four thousand (4000) pension able ex-staff of the defunct corporation are outraged with two welfare groups in charge of spear heading their pension scheme, together with the national pension schemes board under the ministry of finance for deliberately failing to manage the pension scheme.

The two associations, which the employees say have turned corrupt and neglected their plight are AKIRAGE and KEREPA whose officials are also former employees of the former transport company.

The two are mandated to be in-charge of the pension scheme property that includes collecting rent and dues from all investments of the former corporation. They are also in charge of disbursing monthly payments to the scheme members.

The former employees complain of long delay of payments that have lead to them experience acute poverty.A section of the former KR employees told reporters IN Nakuru recently that they have not received their dues for the last ten months. Our families are living in poverty. We cannot be able to pay fees for children. The government must tell Kenyans why we live like beggars yet we have an investment” complained a pensioner”

They also grumble of a total lack of communication and a stalled increment on their allowances. The pensioners told the press that despite of many complains they had made in writing to the (RBA) Kenya Retirement Benefits Authority at treasury, no action or feed back had been made or received.

The former employees say that the pension scheme’s trust is worth Ksh.

20 billion and generates a monthly income of over Ksh. 40 million from investments, that was enough to pay monthly allowances to the scheme members.

According to documents availed in our news room, the retired employees from the western Kenya region had written to the finance minister and copied the same letter to the Kenya Anti- Corruption Commission for intervention citing provisions from the Kenya Railways Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme.

The document read in part: We the Kenya Railway Pension wish to draw to the attention of our dissatisfaction in the way the scheme is being run ……being the overall organ that secures and regulates pension schemes in the country. We need you intervention…………….

Retirement and death benefits of Kenya Railway Corporation pensioners is provided by the Trustees of the Kenya Railways Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme (KRSRBS) from its revenues. The information further divulges that the retirees and members of their families are entitled to the benefits under Act Cap 397 of the Kenya Railways Corporation.

The government of Kenya through the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) requires that all government bodies establish separate pension schemes to manage the death and retirement benefits matters. RBA is established under the retirement benefits Act 1997 to regulate retirement benefits sector of the economy and is managed by the ministry of finance.