April 2024
18Apr

Only 26pc Of Kenyans In Employment Save For Retirement

Kenyans in the labour force have been urged to join pension schemes and start their contributions, which would enable them to have a stable future once they exit their employments. According to the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), only 26 per cent of people in the labour market were saving for retirement, meaning that in every 10 Kenyans in the labour service, 7 were likely to live in poverty after retirement because the appreciation of saving for retirement is not well...

April 18, 2024
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11Apr

Kenya. Alternative assets give pension funds options to expand investment menu

Government bonds and equities have long served as a cornerstone of pension fund portfolios. While these traditional asset classes have their merits, they represent an uncomfortably high (and growing) percentage of pension portfolios, leaving them vulnerable to concentration risk and the underperformance in these two asset classes. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) All Share Index, for example, fell by 27.7 percent in 2023 and bond valuations have taken a beating following recent rises in interest rates. Driven by this high concentration risk,...

April 11, 2024
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01Apr

Kenya. Treasury to spend Sh255 million on increasing pension coverage

The Treasury has lined up a series of reforms to the country’s retirement benefits policy to boost access for informal, diaspora, and short-term workers, which are set to cost up to Sh255 million by December next year. In Kenya, an estimated 3.5 million people, or 25 percent of the workforce, are covered by retirement benefit schemes, according to the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), meaning the majority of Kenyans will retire poor. The new measures outlined in the newly published National...

April 1, 2024
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March 2024
27Mar

Kenya. Treasury Unveils New Retirement Policy With Enhanced Benefits

The government wants to revise the pensions scheme to enable Kenyans save for a retirement home and pay for medical care after retirement. According to the draft National Retirement Benefits Policy released by the National Treasury, a significant number of Kenyans are facing challenges in accessing housing and healthcare services after retirement. The Treasury pointed out that numerous retirement plans did not allow individuals to save for the two primary needs that make up a significant portion of expenses for Kenyans...

March 27, 2024
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26Mar

What we must do to expand pension coverage in Kenya

By SIMON WAFUBWA   Significant progress in the pension sector has been made in the past two decades and we continue to see growth every year. According to the Retirement Benefits Authority, Kenya’s Pension Assets stood at Sh1.7 trillion by the end of June 2023. This marked an 8.1 percent growth compared to Sh1.5 trillion the previous year. However, as a country, we still have certain challenges to overcome to ensure the financial security of the entire population during their retirement years. The...

March 26, 2024
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February 2024
27Feb

Uganda Parliament Pensions Scheme to Reduce Equity Investments in Kenya

By Kenyan WallStreet   Uganda’s Parliamentary Pensions Scheme (PPS) is considering reducing its investments in Kenya due to macroeconomic challenges. The scheme’s total equity assets stand at UShs. 24 billion, out of which two percent is in Kenya. In its most recent financials, the scheme reported a gross investment income UShs. 55 billion and total assets of 425 billion. The growth in total assets marked a significant growth from UShs. 349 billion in 2021/2022 to Shs. 425billion in 2022/2023. “We…propose to reduce...

February 27, 2024
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08Feb

Kenya. Pension returns trail inflation rate for the second year

Pension contributors are staring at a major erosion of their savings after annual returns on investments in 2023 by pension funds shrunk below the rate of inflation. A periodic pension industry survey done by fund administrator Zamara shows that pension schemes made a weighted average return of 1.4 percent in 2023, which was lower than the 1.7 percent return recorded in 2022. At the same time, Kenya’s average inflation stood at 7.7 percent in 2023, meaning that the average saver lost...

February 8, 2024
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01Feb

Kenya. Counties owe pension schemes Sh41.2bn – Government Workers Union

Kenya County Government Workers Union has decried continued non-remittance of pension funds by devolved units, stating that the debts currently stand at Sh41.2 billion. Secretary General Roba Duba regretted that counties have been opting to pay “urgent” debts over remitting pension dues. Addressing a press conference in Nairobi, Duba said the union is going to petition the National Treasury to look at ways of addressing the matter urgently. “The issue of pension scheme management has not been given the necessary attention it...

February 1, 2024
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January 2024
25Jan

Kenya. Pensioners in tears over their delayed gratuity

“I regret having ever worked for the government,” says Mama Pauline Kiragu before she falls into deep silence. This is the cry for justice for millions of aging Kenyans — who worked in the civil service — waiting for pension payments running into billions of shillings. After many years of toil, most of them have retired home lonely fighting vagaries of old age, sickly, weak, dependent and poor. Thousands are unable to access their savings for upkeep and medical care. Others have...

January 25, 2024
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10Jan

Kenya. Auditor General’s Report Reveals Ksh.67B Lost Through Fake Pension Scheme Payments

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has lifted the lid on the Ksh.67 billion loss of public funds through fake payments made to pensioners whose realness is also in question. The performance report by the Auditor General on the fund shows that top civil servants manning the scheme were among others using duplicate IDs to enrol fake claimants, occasioning the loss of taxpayers' money.  Officials in the National Treasury are said to have colluded to defraud the pension fund of billions of shillings...

January 10, 2024
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