Former Technical University of Kenya (TUK) vice chancellor Prof Francis Aduol was yesterday put on the spot over the whereabouts of Sh39 million meant for the staff pension scheme, fueling suspicions of high-level embezzlement at the university.
Prof. Aduol, who currently serves as a commissioner at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), maintains that the funds were used to support university operations but were eventually deposited into the pension scheme account.
However, a liquidator’s report tabled before the Senate indicates that Sh39 million, initially held in a Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) savings account, of which the former VC is a signatory, was withdrawn but never transferred to the pension scheme account.
“We noted that Sh39 million was removed from the KCB account and transferred to the Kenya Polytechnic account but that was it. The money was not transferred to the pensions account,” liquidator Longet Terer told the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare.
Documents tabled before Senate show signatories to the savings account were Prof Francis Aduol (VC), Prof Paul Shiundu (acting deputy VC) , Prof Suki K.K Mwendwa (acting deputy VC), Mr Jamleck Kanambiu, acting chief accountant, and Mr Stanley M. Mwangi, acting finance officer.
Regulatory approval for the scheme was granted in 2013, four years after it began operating in 2009, during which members’ contributions were held in the KCB savings account.
Both the Kenya Polytechnic University College (KPUC) and its successor TUK admitted to diverting the funds in what they termed “unavoidable circumstances” on account that the institution was grossly underfunded.
The Independence Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Commissioner Prof. Francis Odhiambo Aduol takes an oath during the swearing-in of the new IEBC Commissioners at the Supreme Court in Nairobi on July 11, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita| Nation Media Group
Prof Aduol was appointed founding principal of KPUC in 2008, and in 2013, when the Kenya Polytechnic was upgraded to TUK, he became its first vice chancellor, until his retirement from the post in 2023.
“We started the pension scheme in 2009 because we needed to get members to set funds aside for retirement. We used the Sh39 million to support the university activities but eventually it was part of the Sh441 that was paid,” Prof Aduol told the session chaired by nominated Senator Miraj Abdulahi.
Compilation of the overall pension contributions remitted by the TUK to the scheme was determined to be Sh441.52 million.
The reconciliation exercise has determined that there is an unremitted pension contribution of Sh2.85 billion due from TUK, arising from years of non-remittance to the scheme.
“To account for lost investment opportunities, it was resolved to apply an average Treasury Bill rate for each year, culminating in a payable interest of Sh3.41 billion, ringing the outstanding debt to Sh6.2 billion,” said Mr Terer.
The Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) required TUK to provide a remedial plan outlining measures to be put in place to ensure the remittance of the outstanding contributions, but all the regulator got were commitments that were never honoured.
The Technical University of Kenya campus along along Haile Selassie Avenue in Nairobi.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
This compelled the RBA to, in 2017, the Authority decided to escalate supervisory intervention by appointing an interim administrator/receiver, Octagon Pension Services Ltd.
Its mandate was to identify anomalies and recommend whether to revive or wind up the scheme. By then, the funding level had fallen to 20 percent, far below the 100 percent required by law, which is what led the RBA to pursue liquidation.
In 2017, in fulfilment of the liquidation option and with a view of protecting members' rights, the RBA moved to court seeking orders to wind up this scheme. The orders were issued seven years later in 2024.
The High Court order brought the curtains down on the long-running saga that has brought TUK employees, who are members of the scheme, a lot of anguish and distress.
As of June 30 2024, the scheme was only 13 percent funded with a membership of 1,850, being 1,299 active and 551 deferred.
In March 2025, the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare launched investigations into the collapse of the TU-K SRBS, following a petition by affected workers alleging financial mismanagement.
In the petition, University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) TUK chapter secretary Fred Sawenja noted that the retirees and staff about to retire from TUK are faced with the real risk of losing their lifelong pension savings after many years of dedicated public service.
