Teachers fight against pension plan
A protest outside the National Social Security Fund building in April 2014. Teachers’ unions have joined forces to oppose a bid to have them contribute to the NSSF pension scheme. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI | FILE
What you need to know:
- Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion also opposed the new scheme and called for an improved one.
- Universities have also rejected the contributions, saying they want to remain in their own scheme.
Rival teachers’ unions have joined forces to oppose a bid to have them contribute to the National Social Security Fund pension scheme.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (Kuppet) and Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) want a better package for their members.
Kuppet Secretary General Akelo Misori said on Monday that they wanted a pension scheme that would be contributory.
“We need a superannuation arrangement where the government will contribute 15 per cent of basic pay while workers will give 7.5 per cent for a total of 22.5 per cent,” Mr Misori told the Press in Nairobi.
The secretary general said that since 2009, they had been pushing for a new scheme but their efforts were undermined.
“We want a scheme to be managed by the employer, a fund manager and employees and not NSSF.”
Mr Misori said the civil servants’ pension scheme did not cater for the interests of teachers.
“The union is pushing for a plan that will guarantee teachers a secure future.”
EMPTY-HANDED
Currently, he added, dismissed teachers normally go home empty-handed without pension.
Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion also opposed the new scheme and called for an improved one.
“We will not join NSSF because we are not sure about the safety of our money. We want a better deal for our members,” Mr Sossion said.
Universities have also rejected the contributions, saying they want to remain in their own scheme.
However, Retirement Benefits Authority supervision manager Charles Machira said that it would be hard for teachers to opt out of NSSF as they are under the civil servants’ non-contributory pension scheme.
However, private pension funds can continue receiving members’ contributions above the statutory minimum of Sh360 a month.
NSSF chairman Adan Mohamed has maintained that it was mandatory for public servants to join the fund, but would be allowed to run their own schemes.
More than 120 employers have applied to retain a larger proportion of their employees’ retirement contributions.
