January 2024

Kenya. State lost Sh67bn in irregular pension payments, audit shows

What you need to know: Sh21 billion was paid to 29,387 claimants with shared bank accounts. Sh44.07 billion was irregularly paid to 221,590 claimants with irregular and no tax PIN. Sh1.62 billion paid in lump sum to 962 claimants before their exit dates from public service. The government lost at least Sh67 billion in irregular payments made by the National Treasury’s pensions department, a recent audit by the Auditor-General revealed. The amount paid to undeserving cases is sufficient to construct enough...

November 2023

Kenya. Pension returns negative on falling share prices

Kenyan pension schemes have registered negative returns in the quarter ended September on wider losses from equities, a new survey shows. According to the Performance Investment Management Survey by South Africa-based investment firm RisCura, the weighted average return of surveyed schemes was posted at negative 3.06 percent in the quarter from a return of 0.18 percent in the previous quarter. The weighted average return from equities deteriorated to a loss of 10.95 percent from losses of 4.27 percent in the quarter...

Kenyan Aging Study Aids Sub-Saharan Africa’s Population Shift

The population of Africa is the youngest in the world-but that is expected to change rapidly in the coming decades. Over the next three decades, the proportion of older Africans will triple across the continent. This population will nearly quadruple in Kenya, one of the most rapidly aging countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. And yet demographers report that robust longitudinal data to address the economic and health-related consequences of this demographic transition are largely missing. The Longitudinal Study of Health and Ageing in Kenya (LOSHAK), a...

October 2023

Kenya. Pension fund assets up Sh127bn on NSSF new rates

Pension fund assets rose by Sh127 billion in the first half of this year, boosted in part by the introduction of higher mandatory contributions to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and exchange gains on offshore investments. The 8.1 percent growth to Sh1.704 trillion was also boosted by new investments in Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits), including the Sh6.92 billion Laptrust Imara Investment Reit (I-Reit) which was listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in March. Read: Pension funds fail to...

September 2023

Kenya. 11,000 Retired Teachers Yet to Be Awarded Their Pension 27 Years Later

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u on Wednesday assured teachers and lawmakers that the government is entering homestretch when it comes to clearing dues owed to some 11,000 retired teachers who are yet to be paid their pension 27 years later. While appearing before MPs, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary told lawmakers that although the government released Ksh16 billion in May to settle unpaid teachers' pensions dating back to 1997, the funds were insufficient to pay all the claims. According to Prof. Ndung'u,...

August 2023

$1.2m benefits from NSSF remain unclaimed in Kenya

Retirees failed to claim Ksh166.83 million ($1.2 million) in benefits due from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) by the end of June 2022, the Auditor-General has revealed, with the fund coming under the spotlight over failure to remit the funds to the unclaimed assets authority. The unclaimed benefits were part of accrued payments of Ksh3.6 billion ($24.9 million) at the end of the period, which the state-owned pension fund continually pays out to retirees at the end of their working...

Engage teachers’ unions before making further NSSF deductions

The payment of pensions and other benefits to teachers and civil servants in Kenya was started by the colonial government, first for Europeans in 1927 and for non-Europeans from 1932. The Pensions Act (Cap.189), of the laws of Kenya, came into operation in its present form on January 1, 1946. Since then, it has been amended from time to time in order to accommodate the changing phases of work and the work environment of workers. The Pensions Act (Cap.189) makes provisions...

How consumer needs are driving pension sector change in Kenya

Over the last two decades, pension assets have grown substantially under the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA). The regulator has developed and amended pension schemes’ regulations aimed at strengthening the legal and regulatory framework in the sector. The goal has been to achieve comprehensive pension coverage across the formal and informal sectors and better protect the interests of beneficiaries and the rights of pension contributors. As such, pension coverage has grown to about 22 percent of the labour force from 12 percent in...

July 2023

Kenya: Local Infrastructure Projects Seek Over Sh700bn Financing From Pension Industry

The Kenya Pension Funds Investment Consortium (KEPFIC) has received infrastructure and alternative investment proposals worth over Sh700 billion ($5.5 billion) from project sponsors and fund managers looking to raise capital from the local retirement benefits schemes. The proposals come as local pension schemes expand their search for suitable investments to provide diversification and higher returns for pensioners. The announcement was made during the opening of the two-day KEPFIC Annual Investment Conference in Nairobi today, where the shortlisted investment opportunities were presented...

Kenya. Civil service pension funds leap to Sh41b in 18 months

Some 368,795 civil servants have contributed over Sh41 billion in 18 months to the Public Service Superannuation Scheme (PSSS), a new data show. The scheme’s membership shot from 330,318 in its introductory month in January 2021 when the government introduced PSSS as the preferred savings and retirement scheme in the public service sector to facilitate free movement of staff in and out of the sector Under this scheme, public service workers contributed two per cent of their gross pay towards retirement...