National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, John Mbadi, has revealed how the government plans to pay the retirement benefits owed to former Kenya Railways staff.
Appearing before the Labour and Social Welfare Committee on Wednesday, August 20, Mbadi revealed that the government had a plan set in place to pay the money owed to the Kenya Railways Staff Retirement Benefit Scheme (KRSRBS).
The CS claimed that the delayed payments had been caused by the fact that the scheme did not have any monetary contributions but relied on investing, especially in real estate.
"From the onset, the Kenya Railways staff benefits scheme has operated on a non-contributory basis. No monetary contributions are made to the scheme by members or sponsors," the CS said.
As such, he revealed that the government would be utilising this opportunity to ensure compensation after seizing its land for the construction of the Nairobi Railway City.
One of these was a plan by the Affordable Housing Board to acquire hundreds of acres of land in Makongeni in order to fund the scheme.
"The affordable housing board has expressed formal interest in acquiring approximately 141 acres of land in the Makongeni area, which is currently owned by the scheme," he stated.
"The intended use of this land is for the development of residential housing units. This transaction presents a strategic opportunity for the Kenya Railways staff retirement benefits scheme to unlock significant value from one of its largest and most strategically related land assets."
Once the sale is finalised, Mbadi said that substantial funds will be generated, improving the scheme's liquidity position and enabling timely and consistent payments of benefits to retired members.
During the same sitting, Mbadi said that the Ksh200,000 honorarium for councillors who have served less than 20 years in government was no longer feasible suggested they get paid through the Inua Jamii system instead.
This, Mbadi said, was because there was currently no legal framework to compensate the former 328 councillors.
If Mbadi's proposal passes, the ex-councillors will be receiving Ksh2,000 monthly cash payments from the programme, which supports vulnerable groups, including the elderly, orphans, and those with disabilities.
