The National Treasury has denied delaying retirees' benefits following an indictment by the ombudsman’s report.
In a statement, the National Treasury Pensions Department, has insisted that it pays monthly pension to more than 250,000 retirees and their dependents on time.
At times, these monies are disbursed way before end month and before employees of the department are paid salaries.
“The department has a performance contract of 22 days to process and pay an award. It has never defaulted or failed to pay monthly pensions since its inception in 1927,” read the statement by the Acting Pensions Secretary Shem Nyakutu.
Citing the 2015 Huduma Kenya score card that rated the department at 89.6 per cent in customer satisfaction, Mr Nyakutu argued that the report by the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) was biased as no pension officers were interviewed during investigations.
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“The department has decentralised its operations to all Huduma Centres in the country and other county headquarters awaiting establishment,” he said.
The CAJ report indicated that more than 70 per cent of public service retirees are not content with the processing and disbursement of their benefits.
This was represented by 96,000 complaints in 2014 compared to slightly above 11,000 for 2013.
Reasons given by complainants ranged from poor record keeping, misplaced files, and delay of employers to submit relevant documents with some officers being willing to hasten things at a ‘small’ fee.
According to the report only four families of the 47 officers massacred in Baragoi were compensated.
“Nine were paid, four are under process and one was returned to the police service for clarification. Majority of the 47 deceased officers were not eligible for pension,” the report clarified.
Contrary to the report that gathered majority of the complains from retired teachers and railway workers, Nyakutu noted that the department does not handle pension for Kenya Railways workers as they have their own scheme.
For over a decade, more than 52,000 teachers have been fighting for their Sh42 billion salaries and pension arrears which the Supreme Court ruled in their favour in December last year.
