A section of former Kenya Railways Corporation (KRA) employees staged a protest on Wednesday, April 21, claiming that 70 of their colleagues have died over three months after the Kenya Railways Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme failed to remit their pensions for the last five months.
The team, which was representing 7,800 former employees, argued that some of their colleagues had died due to lack of food and basic needs.
They noted that the members received between Ksh2,500 and Ksh40,000 every month from the pension scheme.
"Beginning December 2020 until now, we have not received any pension. This is the fifth month. Who can live for five months without food, pension and paying house rent? We are being oppressed.
"The lowest-earning member receives Ksh2,500 while the highest gets Ksh40,000," stated one of the members.
He further explained that they had been promised that the State would remit the funds in time.
"We had been promised Ksh1.2 million. Since then, we have been told that the government would have paid but it cannot pay.
"We have waited for a long time and elderly people have continued to die. In the last three months, 70 people have died because of lack of food and medical attention," he added.
The scheme is among the oldest pension organisations in the country having been established in July 2006.
Since its establishment, the scheme has operated as a closed scheme with no active contributing members.
As of October 1, 2020, the scheme has a total membership of 8,720 comprising of 7,788 Active pensioners, and 932 differed pensioners who are still employed at KRC.
Below is the video:
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