Chris Rock used to joke that Black people should get their pensions at age 30 because they have a lower life expectancy than Whites and never live to retire at age 55.
The new Retirement Benefits Act was the talk of the town last week as it had some stunning revelations. It was revealed that retirees would not get most of their pension until they turn 55 – they can only access what they contributed, which is in many cases only a fraction of the employer’s contribution.
It was shocking that this decision was made as there are about to be a number of retrenchment packages e.g. at Kenya Railways, Telkom and Kenya Ports Authority. Previously retrenched employees walked away with some nice payments packages – golden handshakes – and invested in restaurants, buildings, matatus or other businesses (and of course, others drank/wasted the money away)
KENYA MEME
GoK has a point though badly put, he Kenyan idea of retirement benefits is this: you are given the whole package sometimes even a few millions and the chap goes on a shopping, drinking or marrying spree within two years he is broke and hopeless.
That is our opporunity to take or mistake to make – not the Government’s