Pension fund’s unclaimed dues fall from Sh7bn to Sh3.3bn

 

By EDWIN MUTAI

In Summary

• NSSF spent Sh34 million in the last six months to spruce up its image through advertisements out of a total budget of Sh62.5 million earmarked for the campaign in the current financial year.

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) suspense account reduced from Sh7 billion last April to Sh3.3 billion in October after the agency embarked on an advertising blitz informing potential beneficiaries to claim their dues.

NSSF spent Sh34 million in the last six months to spruce up its image through advertisements out of a total budget of Sh62.5 million earmarked for the campaign in the current financial year. Its board of Trustees and the Treasury had approved the budget in the first quarter.

But Labour minister John Munyes was at pains to defend the advertisement budget in Parliament after MPs questioned the benefits the fund attained on its image-building following a string of financial scandals where billions of shillings were paid companies that sued it for breach of contract.

Ikolomani MP Boni Khalwale said the spending by NSSF was a matter of concern.

“We have a company by the name Sololo Outlets which was recently paid over Sh650 million for houses it never built for NSSF. Is it that it was the company cutting deals with you and NSSF to pay a politician in this House for houses the company never built?” Dr Khalwale posed.

The minister, however, said he was not aware of any money paid to Sololo Outlets since he did not sit on the NSSF board.

“All NSSF investment is done by fund managers who are competitively recruited. We don’t handle investment. The core amount of money over Sh120 billion is under fund managers. We don’t handle money now,” said Munyes.