Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has announced that it will now take less than six months to process pensions for retired teachers.
Speaking on August 9, 2023, before the senate, CS Machogu said his ministry has directed the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to ensure that, once a teacher retires, his or her file is immediately processed and submitted to the Pensions Department at the National Treasury.
“We have asked TSC that once a teacher retires, the file is sent as soon as possible for the payment process to begin and the processing of the payment of the dues should take between four and five months,” said Machogu.
The CS was responding to a question from Embu Senator Alexander Mundigi, who wanted to know why retired teachers have had to wait for more than two years to access their pension dues.
The CS further called upon teachers whose retirement benefits have been delayed for over a year to contact the ministry.
“If there are such cases, then they should be forwarded to my ministry for action,” said the CS.
According to TSC boss Nancy Macharia, the Commission had always completed the necessary paperwork on time to the Treasury for payment.
She, therefore, blamed the National Treasury over delays in payment of pensions to retired teachers as TSC takes only three months to process documents.
Additionally, Ms Macharia said teachers due for retirement are given a one-year notice by the commission in order to prepare their documentation for payments in readiness for exit.
The TSC boss explained this when she appeared before the Senate’s Education Committee in May following a petition filed by a former teacher, who claimed that TSC was yet to pay 23, 487 teachers who retired between 1998 and 2003.
By Thuita Jaswant
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