Governors oppose new pension plan

By JAMES MBAKA

Governors have opposed a proposal by the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) to sanction the Local Authorities Pension Trust (Laptrust) to offer a pension scheme for county government employees.

Through the Council of Governors, they said the choice of a pension scheme for county employees was solely a decision of county governments.

The ministry of Devolution and RBA wants Laptrust transformed into the County Pension Fund (CPF), which will be a pension scheme for county employees.

But the decision has been greeted with stiff opposition with opinion divided on whether the yet to be established CPF will run parallel with the existing State pension scheme provider, the Local Authorities Provident Fund (Lapfund), which alongside Laptrust catered for employees of the defunct local government authorities.

Governors said no agreement had been reached regarding the best scheme that should be adopted by the county governments and that wide consultations were on going among stakeholders.

In a press release placed in newspapers yesterday, the Chairperson of the Labour and Social Welfare Committee of  the Council of Governors James Ongwae asked for patience to allow room for consultations before county governments could conclusively identify the appropriate pension scheme provider for their employees.

“The Council of Governors would like to urge all actors to desist from misguiding and confusing county employees with information that is not sanctioned by the Council of Governors in relation to pension matters,” Ongwae said.

Ongwae, who is also the governor of Kisii, said governors were exploring four options regarding retirement of county employees including the merger of the State owned Lapfund and Laptrust to enable the creation of a robust scheme with better leverage in terms of capital.

The Kisii governor said a meeting held on November 18 between Laptrust and Lapfund, the Constitution Implementation Commission and the Council of Governors agreed in principle to work on a merger.

He said governors were looking at the possibility of establishing an umbrella pension scheme, which will result in the closure of Lapfund and Laptrust.