Kenyans must stop NSSF Bill to prevent looting

Workers put up a signboard on the National Social Security Fund house during the pension fund’s re-branding last year. FILE

On the face of it, the government has embarked on what looks like a promising restructuring of the economy that could stand the country in good stead going forward.

We have seen President Uhuru Kenyatta secure huge funding for infrastructure projects, including the Mombasa to Malava standard gauge railway.

On Wednesday the President opened a berth in Mombasa that will hugely boost the port capacity. We are seeing determined effort to overhaul the power and road infrastructures that should yield major gains for our manufacturing and commercial sectors.

However, a fund that is critical in financing Vision 2030 seems to be accelerating in the opposite direction. The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) under the watch of Labour minister Kazungu Kambi could be headed for its worst time.

Indeed, unless the public wakes up and stop the full-steam run into an abyss, Kenyans will pay dearly.

The NSSF Bill 2013 intends to tighten government control of the fund and relegate stakeholders like the unions and the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) into bystanders. This it intends to do by removing the stipulation in the earlier law that the two parties get automatic representation.

On top, the minister will appoint the managing trustee without direct input of the board, which previously used to propose three names. Alarmingly, this is coming at a time the fund is seeking to increase workers’ contributions to the scheme.

Adan Duale, the majority leader, will be introducing the Bill in Parliament where the chance of it being rammed through by the Jubilee majority is high. The vague wording on the trustees’ qualification leaves the fund open to appointment of politically connected conmen and other undesirables at the expense of the contributors.

It will be recalled that FKE and the Central Organisation of Trade Unions have been critical in oversight of the NSSF despite the heavy looting that has attended its operations, especially during the Moi era.

They were the ones who blew the whistle on the diversion of funds through Euro Bank to Shah Munge Partners in early 2000s. We do not wish to list all the mega scandals that the elite have perpetrated against the downtrodden at the fund, but it suffices to note nothing prevents a recurrence.

MPs must refuse to vote on party lines on this as they will be voting against their electors.

Further, lobbyists must stop this travesty even if it means going to court. The Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution should stand its ground against this anti-Kenyans law.