NSSF to redraft social security Bill, says CEO

 

File | NATION Members of Parliament undergo an induction workshop on April 12 at the Safari Park Hotel.  

By NICHOLAS WAITATHU

National Social Security Fund (NSSF) will repeal a Bill it drafted last year to convert the institution from a National Provident Fund into a Social Security Scheme.

NSSF Managing Trustee Tom Odongo said the Bill will be amended before it is presented to Parliament for discussion and approval.

 

This implies that the draft National Social Security Fund Bill 2012 that was approved by Cabinet last year will have to be recalled and views of stakeholders incorporated.

“Stakeholder views will be provided to enable the fund provide an optimum pension cover that meets the needs of all citizens,” he said.

The decision by the institution follows heavy criticism by voluntary retirement schemes that dismissed the Bill on grounds that it cannot be implemented before issues of transparency and governance are addressed effectively. Odongo warned that failure to provide an expanded social security product under NSSF in coming years would be tantamount to discrimination for sectors that are currently neither covered by NSSF nor private schemes.

He appealed to the occupational schemes to look at the bigger picture of empowering Kenyans to take charge of their lives through enhanced savings.  Mr Odongo was speaking to The Standard in a telephone interview. 

“Whereas we appreciate the spirit of criticisms, we are also conscious of the fact that NSSF and the private schemes cover less than 50 per cent of formal sector employees, which means that 80 per cent of employable population is not covered by NSSF mainly because they are in the informal sector, self-employed, exempted or unemployed,” Odongo explained.

Odongo commended President Uhuru Kenyatta for his reiteration the Government will provide social protection cover for all Kenyans as outlined in the Constitution.