New pension scheme to be launched for employees of counties
The National Assembly. Parliament will acquire all the land and buildings between Haile Selassie Avenue, Parliament Road, Uhuru Highway and the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi to create a “Parliament Square”, officials have said. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Mr Koross said the new scheme would align pension scheme for county workers with the Constitution, which recognises social security for all Kenyans.
- Lapfund chief executive officer David Koross said the proposed county retirement scheme, would also rope in the youth and self-employed in the counties, who are currently not covered by existing schemes.
Leaders and staff in the 47 counties are set to join a new retirement scheme, if a proposed Bill is passed by Parliament.
The county retirement scheme Bill, 2013 establishes a new pension fund which will replace the current Local Authorities Provident Fund (Lapfund), with a membership of 24,000 and a portfolio of Sh15 billion.
Lapfund chief executive officer David Koross said the proposed county retirement scheme, would also rope in the youth and self-employed in the counties, who are currently not covered by existing schemes.
“This is a universal fund that will cover workers in the 47 counties as well as other groups such as the youth and the self-employed who are currently not covered by any scheme,” he said.
Thousands of workers at the defunct municipal and county councils have been absorbed by the county governments and their contributions would be transferred to the new scheme.
Mr Koross said the new scheme would align pension scheme for county workers with the Constitution, which recognises social security for all Kenyans.
Lapfund chairman Njenga Mwaura said county governments should not roll out their own retirement schemes, but stick to their core mandates, saying the new scheme would take care of the retirement benefits for the workers.
“We intend to cover all the 47 counties so none of them should engage in their own retirement schemes,” he said.
He said the draft Bill, which is now at the stakeholders stage, would become law once it is passed in the National Assembly, which could trigger more turf wars between the Senate and National Assembly.
