Employers oppose NSSF’s Sh5bn Tassia upgrade plan

Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) Executive Director Jacqueline Mugo. FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By Victor Juma

In Summary

• The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) says the expenditure has not been sanctioned by the board of NSSF where it has representation.
• The position taken by FKE comes after Cotu, also a member of NSSF’s board, blew the whistle on the controversial project, describing it as fraudulent.
• Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli said the construction in Tassia should be done by the plot owners.

Employers have opposed plans by the National Social Security Fund to spend Sh5 billion on infrastructure development in Nairobi’s Tassia Estate.

The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) says the expenditure has not been sanctioned by the board of NSSF where it has representation.

The position taken by FKE comes after the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu), also a member of NSSF’s board, blew the whistle on the controversial project, describing it as fraudulent.

The State-controlled National Social Security Fund advertised for construction works at the plots it sold in 2003, including roads, electrical installations, sewerage and plumbing works.

“As far as I am aware, no board resolution has been made to form the basis of the award of a contract on this project,” FKE executive director Jacqueline Mugo said in a statement.

“Hence there should be no award of a contract until and unless a formal resolution and approval is granted by the board, if at all, in a formally constituted meeting.” She added that FKE has asked acting NSSF managing trustee Richard Lang’at to convene an urgent board meeting to discuss the matter.

Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli said the construction in Tassia should be done by the plot owners.

READ: NSSF advertises for Tassia estate construction works

The ongoing controversy is the latest to engulf NSSF that has lost billions of shillings in fraudulent deals involving politically-connected wheeler-dealers. The fund has also haemorrhaged cash out of poor management decisions.

NSSF is solely funded by workers whose interests are represented by FKE and Cotu but the two organisations appear to be sidelined in execution of allegedly opaque tenders such as the Tassia II project.

The fund, which is transforming from a provident fund to a pension scheme, in October invited contractors to undertake the works in Tassia.

Improve

The tender came four months after Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero directed the Fund to carry out the construction works to improve the living conditions of the estate.

NSSF had sold homeowners in the estate land on which they had allegedly squatted for years. Residents have, however, suffered from poor infrastructure that has been blamed on poor planning.

Former acting NSSF managing trustee Hope Mwashumbe said that the cost of the works had been included in the price the residents paid for their homes.