TSC shifts blame to treasury over delayed payment of 23,487 retirees
The National Treasury has been placed under fire by the Teachers Service Commission for failing to pay 23,487 teachers who left the profession between 1998 and 2003.
The commission has completed all the paperwork and submitted it to the Treasury for payment, according to TSC CEO Nancy Macharia.
According to the legislation, the commission processed all the necessary paperwork for the 23,487 claims and submitted it to the National Treasury for payment, according to Macharia.
In order to explain the exorbitant delays in paying the retiring teachers, the TSC boss testified before the Senate’s Education Committee.
This came after a former teacher filed a petition alleging that the TSC had not paid retirees after they had been out of the workforce for roughly 20 years.
A 1997 agreement between the employer and the Kenya National Union of Teachers, KNUT did not result in increased compensation for the teachers who were affected retirees.
The agreement was to be implemented in stages, but because to a cash crunch that the government was experiencing at the time, the lot retired before they could take advantage of one of the phases.
“I want to dispel a myth here that says TSC is responsible for pension payments. This is not true. The commission’s task is to prepare paperwork and send it to the director of pensions. The TSC boss stated that documentation is where our work ends.
The affected retirees are receiving a regular pension, according to Macharia, who spoke before the committee under the chairmanship of Murangá Senator Joe Nyutu. However, the Treasury has not yet given them the additional salary to which they were due when they were in the service.
The 1997 salary agreement was revised, she added, and a new agreement was signed as legislative supplement No. 10 of 2003. “The committee should note this,” she said.
The teachers filed a lawsuit and won a favorable ruling for increased pension benefits, which forced the government to make the payment.
In 2015, the teachers prevailed in their legal battles from the High Court to the Supreme Court.
The administration pledged to fully comply with the verdict and start processing the pension applications for the teachers who are entitled to the same, according to Macharia, after exhausting all legal options.
The committee decided to call Treasury CS Njunguna Ndung to explain the nonpayment, and the TSC head was put on the position when they questioned him about why some retirees were taking longer than usual to receive their regular pension.
I’ve been coming to TSC so frequently that some folks mistakenly believe I work there. Why do you take so long to pay pensioners’ gratuities and pensions? Senator Johannes Mwaruma posed at Taita Taveta.
The CEO listed a number of causes for late payments.
She mentioned the difficulties in getting the retirees to provide the necessary papers so that the Treasury could process the payouts.
Families sometimes argue over who gets the pension, especially after the retirees have passed away, she added.
Macharia claimed that the commission gave retirees one notice to compile the necessary paperwork for payouts through Julius Olayo, head of human resource management and development for the commission.
“We list a number of requirements, including bank information so that they can be filed, in the notice.
However, some beneficiaries and retirees take a while to submit the necessary paperwork for processing in order to release the funds.
TSC shifts blame to treasury over delayed payment of 23,487 retirees
