The Commission on Administrative Justice (Office of the Ombudsman) is advocating for a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s pension system.
Chairperson Charles Dulo has urged the government to adopt a holistic approach to tackle the significant delays, lack of responsiveness, and evident injustices affecting the public service pensions system, with the aim of restoring fairness, dignity, and public confidence.
This latest push by the Ombudsman follows investigations revealing that approximately 70 per cent of retirees from the public service are dissatisfied with the processing and disbursement of their retirement benefits.
The Commission is also calling for the streamlining of bureaucratic procedures, improvements in data management and record-keeping practices, and the strengthening of accountability and oversight mechanisms within the Pensions Department to alleviate the current burdens faced by retirees.
“These measures are crucial in addressing the persistent delays, especially in pensions processing, ensuring that retirees and their beneficiaries receive their rightful benefits in a timely and efficient manner without enduring decades of unnecessary delays and financial hardship,” Dulo stated at a press briefing on Thursday.
In highlighting the need for reform, Dulo noted that the Pensions Department is among the institutions with the highest number of complaints. The Commission has received over 674 complaints against the department.
“Since 2019, the Commission has received 318 complaints against the Pensions Department. Of these, 174 cases have been resolved, while 144 remain outstanding. The majority of the complaints—274 cases—relate to delays in processing pensions, including 68 specific cases involving delayed pensions for teachers. Other complaints include 21 cases of unresponsive official conduct, 9 cases of inefficiency, 4 cases of manifest injustice, 2 cases of unfair treatment, 3 cases of unlawful official conduct, 4 cases outside the department’s mandate, and 1 case related to access to information,” Dulo explained.
The Chairperson revealed that the Commission continues to receive numerous complaints regarding the non-remittance of retirement benefits, a situation that has worsened over the past few years.
“These complaints have been lodged by both individual retired public officers and groups, as illustrated in the cases of Teachers and Kenya Railways Staff. This issue is also raised periodically in public forums organized by the Commission,” he said.
To address the identified systemic failures, the CAJ is advocating for the streamlining of payment processes, decentralization, allocation of sufficient funds for retiree payments, and the resolution of systemic issues affecting benefit payments, some of which are attributed to human factors.
In making the case for urgent action, the Ombudsman disclosed that at least 48 retirees have been waiting between 16 and 25 years for any updates on their pensions, while 20 individuals have been left in limbo for over 26 years without receiving their rightful dues.
“These delays are not just statistics; they represent real people grappling with financial hardship, inability to settle medical bills, uncertainty, and, in many cases, a profound loss of dignity. The stakeholders involved must do better to honour those who dedicated their lives to public service,” Dulo lamented.
