High Court nullifies Kakamega County Pension Scheme Act

High Court nullifies Kakamega County Pension Scheme Act. [File, Standard]

The High Court on Friday, September 19, quashed the enactment of the Kakamega County Pension Scheme Act, 2022, ruling that only the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has the mandate to set and review remuneration for State officers.

A three-judge bench sitting in Kakamega, Justices Jacqueline Nyambura Kamau, Patrick Juma Okwaro Otieno, and Chirchir Sophie Chebet, declared the law unconstitutional, stating that county governments lack powers to determine or regularly review the pay and benefits of State officers.

"The setting and regular review of remuneration and benefits, including retirement benefits, for State officers in the county government is a function that is exclusively vested in the Salaries and Remuneration Commission by dint of Article 230(4) of the Constitution," the bench ruled.

The court further held that the assembly acted in violation of Article 185 and the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, which outlines the legislative authority of county assemblies.

It also faulted the county for breaching Article 10 by failing to conduct stakeholder engagement and public participation before awarding retirement benefits to the Governor, Deputy Governor, Speaker, and Members of the County Assembly from August 8, 2017.

As a result, the judges declared: "The Kakamega County (State Officers) Pension Scheme Act, 2022 is unconstitutional, null and void ab initio."

The ruling stemmed from a petition by SRC, which argued that the County Assembly of Kakamega had acted contrary to Article 230(4)(a) of the Constitution and in excess of the retirement benefits outlined in a Gazette Notice of March 1, 2013, later updated in July 2022.