On a bright Wednesday morning, Agnes Ouma sits on a blue plastic chair outside her neighbour’s house, in Jamhuri estate on Ngong road.

She is going through her phone book. Midway, she pauses and laments: “Nobody receives my calls these days.”

She thinks that most of her contacts have blacklisted her. Because whenever she calls, it is to ask for financial help. Since retrenchment, she says, she has been reduced to a borrower — borrowing without any clear plan to repay.

“No wonder when I call, they don’t answer,” she remarks.

Before Ouma left Telkom in 2009, she had worked for 20 years, and was the personal assistant of the head of corporate communications. Even though her leaving was voluntary early retirement, she says, she got less than 50 per cent of her pension.

“Orange management was coming in to replace Telkom when I left, and I just did not feel like going on. When they gave us an option of leaving or staying, I left,” says Ouma.

On leaving, she expected to receive all her savings from Telposta Pension Scheme, however, less than 50 per cent of her savings was paid. Since then, life has been hard.

“I struggle to foot utility bills. As a result, electricity and water have sometimes been disconnected. Sometimes we have to stay in darkness with the children. Getting food is a problem,” said Ouma.

However, she thinks she is better compared to some of her former colleagues who, according to her, are struggling even harder.

Each day, she hopes the miscalculations will be ratified and the money she’s owed will be wired to her account.

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