A raft of amendments to the pensions law introduced in the National Assembly may expressly lock out Cabinet Secretaries from getting their pension if their tenure is not renewed.
The amendment seeks to increase the number of years for which one should be eligible for pension from the current five years to ten years.
If the amendment sails through Parliament, then, Cabinet Secretaries whose terms will not be renewed will not get pension.
In the new Cabinet yet to be named, several CS’ who served in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first tenure will be axed.
On Sunday, through the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, all CS’ were directed to prepare a handover report.
Others who will be affected by the amendment are civil servants employed on a permanent and pensionable basis but fail to serve for a minimum of 10 years.
Through a public notice by Parliament on Monday, Kenyans were invited to give their input to the proposal contained in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No 3) Bill 2017.
They have until Friday November 8 to give their input to the amendment to the pension law and others contained in the bill.
The current law stipulates that any state officer who serves for five years and above is entitled to pension upon reaching the age of 60 years.
“Where an officer has completed five years of pensionable service, the benefits accruing to the officer under this act shall vest in that officer and shall become payable,” reads the Pensions Act according to the Standard.
Parliament will also debate Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Act No 10 of 2011 which seeks to be amended and give SRC commissioners full-time jobs.
Current SRC commissioners work on a part-time basis and get paid in terms of allowances.
The amendment to the SRC Act also seeks to the accord the President the privilege to appoint the Chairperson of SRC.
In a notice to the public published National Assembly Clerk Michael Sialai, it read: “Apart from seeking to amend the act to have commissioners serve on a full-time basis, the bill further wants to delete sub-sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Section 7, which relate to the formation of a selection panel under procedure of nominating a commissioner and allow the President to nominate his choice for chairperson in accordance with Article 230(2) of the Constitution.”
SRC is currently chaired by Sarah Serem. Her commission has been at war with legislators over a move she made in June to reduce their salaries and scrapped allowances.