President William Ruto has directed the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and other agencies overseeing retirement benefits to ensure public servants receive their pension payments within 10 days of retiring.
Speaking during the World Teachers’ Day celebrations at Kasarani on Monday, October 5, Ruto said the measures were intended to address prolonged delays that have left retirees waiting for months before accessing their benefits.
“The agencies responsible have assured me that within the next three months, we will be able to pay a teacher’s retirement benefit within ten days of their retirement,” Ruto stated.
The President pointed to the Pension Management Information System (PMIS), introduced on July 1 by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the National Treasury, as one of the reforms being implemented to accelerate pension processing.
Ruto said government officials were in the process of uploading retirees’ records onto the digital system, which is expected to minimise delays associated with processing retirement claims.
He said teachers and other public servants should not be subjected to financial difficulties after leaving employment, arguing that retirees should no longer be required to visit different government offices in search of their benefits.
"We want to change that culture of retired public servants moving from one public office to another to check if their retirement benefits are in order," Ruto added.
Ruto further noted that the reforms would extend beyond teachers, with his administration seeking to establish a similar system for all public sector workers.
He said he had issued clear instructions to the NSSF that retirement benefits owed to public workers should be processed and paid within 10 days of their retirement.
Once fully operational, the new system is expected to mean that a retiring teacher, civil servant or other public employee will receive their retirement benefits roughly 10 days after leaving service.
The reforms seek to address longstanding challenges that previously made pension processing a lengthy and unpredictable process.
Before the introduction of the digital Electronic Pension Management Information System (e-PMIS), some retirees waited months or even years to receive their benefits.
Although regulations provided for a 90-day period to process retirement benefits, bureaucratic bottlenecks and reliance on manual records contributed to significant delays. Cases handled by the Ombudsman have included retirees who waited between four and 26 years for their benefits.
The delays have previously been attributed to missing physical files, inaccurate pension records, discrepancies identified during audits and late submission of required documents. In some cases, government departments only prepared retirees’ records after the employees had already exited public service.
