Tuesday 16 August 2011

Where KR pensions started, when will group C be pensionable

Welcome to the Kenya Railway's Pensioners blog. Every thought is valued and each expression respected.

Hi everybody,  did you know that the Railways pensions is among the oldest scheme's in the country? If you count the various processes and stages it has undergone. Very early in the days when most of the Railway staff  were either civil servants or members of the Imperial East Africa Company the offers were categoried into three bands unfortunately based on contracts that were based on their origin and their races. the British staff had a pension provided for by the Government and their terms of service were outlined in the staff regulations which date back to 1924 a copy of this document modified in 1936, 1945, 1968, 1977 and finally 1988 are availiable at the KRSRBS office. In the 1988 version a section J was devoted to their terms of service. Most of these officers were in management positions and their terms of service was permanent and pensionable. though they were also eligible to a superannuation fund to support their spouses.

A second category of staff mainly originated from India and other colonies of the then Great Britain, most of these staff were Asians. These staff were on contract employments that were annual or bi annual. Their skills were specialised and thus were either technicians, crafts men or artisans. Their terms of employment required them to be provided a provident fund that was contributory others joined the super annuation fund but they initially were not eligible for pensions. The key distinction of their terms were that their provident fund was targeted at their widows and dependants to receive support in the event of thier demise even after retirement from service.

The third category were kenyans who were considered as casual labour working on jobs that required minimal skill but really dificult and risky tasks. Accordingly, they were not entitled to a pension. some one once commented when this was requested that they had the kinship system to fall back to and that they worked from home which is a great mis conception since those who took up work in the earlier years barely had any other option.

The above categorisation existed until independence when the africanization program re structured the processes and the three categories were still retained though the division was now based on skills and not origin. as at 2006 when the Kenya Railways was concessioned. The pension component had been opened up to include the technicians craftsmen and artisans in all vocations. However for the female employees this benefit came late in the day, infact some were converted as late as 2005. The provision was made for the this category when the impact of retrenchment showed and some ladies were nearly financially embarrassed during a retrenchment exer5cise conducted between 1995 and 2004.

The third category of the semi skilled staff in the Group C remained in the non pensionable catagory. Though their numbers were large, it was at the establishment of the KRSRBS that a debate to include them began. this has yet to be finalised. However, the impact pension would have on their lives would have been really positive.

I hope this will be addressed before all of them  are retired on the old terms. Is there any one in this category following the matter other than Opondo who used to be in the CSTE department?

With the introduction of the Concession and the building of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line from Mombasa to Nairobi and beyond, new methods of managing the retirement benefits of the members continue to be incorporated. Generally, the benefits are now regulated under the Retirement Benefits Act and since that point it has become standard practice to adopt a a contributory scheme that is managed by other party than the employer. the Rift Valley Railways settled on Alexander Forbes Financial Services to manage its pensions. Kenya Railways also followed suit by making  Alexander Forbes the Trustees of the KRSRBS. As for the new KRC staff their terms were given to other insurance firms either Old Mutual or Britam. i do not know the current status of the pension plan. what i wonder is for the new group who have been hired by the Chinese firm to build the SGR what sort of scheme is in place for them.

does anyone have the update as at 2015?

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Welcome to the friends of Kenya Railways Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme blog site

Mr Thomas Kithingi Founding Chair of the Board of Trustees recieving a farewell gift from the incoming Chairperson of the Board of Trustees Ms Beryl L. Odinga at the Scheme Board Room on December 11, 2008. During the handing over Ceremony.

A picture of the old and new Trustees of the Scheme at the handing over ceremony starting from the Back row on the left to right Eng. Peter Imbisi, Mr. David Masika, Mathews Tuikong, Mr. James Murigu and Mr. Puis Mutay, those sitted from left to Right Dr. Mtana Lewa, Mr. Thomas Kithinji, Ms Beryl Odinga, Mr. Charles Muthee and Mr. John Chumo.

What a day it was, the old team handing over the Scheme after 8 years of working to establish the fund, providing for the assets, registering the Scheme and developing the Strategic plan that ensures that systems and structures were in place and the short term and long term needs of the scheme are prioritised for the posterity. The new team working towards taking the scheme to greater heights and improving the cashflow.