Retirement Benefits Authority under fire over delayed pension payments to retired staff

Retirement Benefits Authority CEO, Charles Machira, during a past event. (Photo: RBA)

By Lucy Mumbi
Thursday, October 9, 2025

Committee Members criticised the RBA for failing to take action against the chief executives of state agencies that have neglected to pay retirement benefits, leaving former employees in financial hardship.

The Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) has come under scrutiny over failure to ensure timely pension payments to retired employees of several state agencies, leaving many former workers struggling financially years after leaving service.

In a session on Thursday, the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning demanded answers as to why the authority had allowed the delayed payout of retirement benefits to persist, terming the situation “grossly unfair” to former employees.

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Officials representing the National Treasury and the RBA appeared before the Committee on behalf of Treasury CS John Mbadi, in response to concerns raised by Kilifi South MP Ken Chonga. Chonga had specifically sought a Statement on delayed pension payments under the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation (NWCPC) Staff Superannuation Scheme.

Committee Members criticised the RBA for failing to take action against the chief executives of state agencies that have neglected to pay retirement benefits, leaving former employees in financial hardship.

“We share the same pain as legislators of people whose pension payouts are stuck. What this Committee needs to know is, if these former employees contributed towards their pension and the agencies made their part of the contribution, where is the money?” Committee Chair David Mboni posed.

Karachuonyo MP Andrew Adipo added, “This is a serious matter. Someone retires and they have made a contribution during the entire period of their service, only for them to exit from service and to be told there is no money. This is not a matter to be taken casually.”

Butula MP Joseph Oyula urged the Authority to take decisive action.

“This is really a sad situation. When the employee and the employer have made their respective contributions, the beneficiary should be given a breakdown of what payout to expect upon their exit. It can only be that someone is diverting the money in a case where the pension payout is unavailable,” he said.

Kesses MP Julius Rutto, who has been following the case of Moi University retired staff whose pension payout stands at Sh4 billion, stressed the need for the Authority to streamline pension payments across all schemes.

RBA CEO, Charles Machira, told the Committee that the NWCPC failed to remit pension contributions when they fell due, causing the actuarial deficit to rise and breaching the statutory funding level of 100 per cent.

“The Water Agency bodies that were formed after water sector reforms neglected their obligations in terms of remitting pension contributions to the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation Superannuation Scheme for employees they took over,” Machira said.

Asked about measures to address delayed payments across all retirement benefit schemes, Machira said the RBA had proposed amendments to the Retirement Benefits Act during the current Financial Year.

“Hon. Chair, the goal is to penalise employers who fail to remit pension contributions and to empower the Kenya Revenue Authority under Section 53 of the Act, to recover unremitted pension contributions from employers,” he said.

MP Chonga expressed dissatisfaction with the Authority’s response and pressed for clarity on the remaining 60 per cent owed to NWCPC staff.

“The matters I raised in my Statement on the Floor of the House have not been responded to. The former employees had been informed that there is no money for their payout, yet they had their money deducted towards their pension. The National Treasury and the Authority have an obligation to ensure the affected people are paid,” he said.