Social Protection Committee Engages NSSF on Service Delivery and Possible Areas of Improvememt

The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Social Protection has today held an engagement forum with the Managing Trustee of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Mr. David Koros together with his management team and the entire Board of Trustees representing different bodies that include the Treasury, Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU), Federation for Kenyan Employers (FKE) among others to diarise on areas of improvement and management of the fund.

During his opening remarks, Mr. Koros called on members of the Committee to support NSSF achieve the intended objectives assuring them of a strong corporate governance framework at the Fund.

“NSSF is all inclusive; it’s a tripartite arrangement that brings together the Government, workers and the employers as key determinants of decisions. Chair, we have moved away from the legacy issues that have been bedevaling NSSF, through set structures today we have a USSD code and contrubutions can be made online in an easy way including those in informal sector”, Said Mr. Koros.

He further told the Committee that NSSF is a leader in the market with 20% compred to other players who share the remaining 80%. He also informed Members that currently the Fund has 3.5 million members and the Fund has plans of bringing onboard informal sector that includes the Jua Kali artisans that currently number 582,000 in the Fund. He outlined his vision to grow the fund in the next 5 years.

Hon. Mark Nyamita (Uriri) however challenged the Fund’s submissions on governance. He sought to know why the management had allowed some of their staff to be in acting positions for long instead of promoting them to substantive positions.

Hon. Nyamita observed that this should be one of the indicators of good governance. The Managing Trustee, Mr. Koros attributed the dalays in confirming such staff to a series of court cases lodged between 2013 and 2023 and the delay by the Public Service Commission to approve the human resource instruments among other requirements of employment.

Committee Chairperson Hon. Alice Ng’ang’a promised to reach out to the Public Service Commission to resolve any issues.

“This Committee needs to know where the issues are. We are here to understand, even if it’s internal wrangles or the Public Service Commission please open up so that we can help you”, she added.

Mr. Koros and his team finalised by informing the Committee on the need to consider proposed amendments to the NHIF Act 2013 which came into enforcement in 2014.

They pointed out a number of loopholes in the law that have largely excercabated the court battles they have been handling. Asked to present the amendment proposals to the Committee for perusal, the Chief Legal Officer at NSSF told the Committee that though they had already drafted the amendments, they had not deliberately on them with the Board of Trustees as is the practice before they are brought before the Committee. Part of the amendment is the proposed inclusion of what they called ‘unemployment fund’.

Hon. Nyikal and Hon. Nyamita challenged the management to look into issues of Board representatives as they work on the amendments. This they noted would amicably facilitate internal settlement of issues.

Hon. Nyikal also insisted on the need by NSSF management to foster public trust to encourage more Kenyans to join the public scheme.

In a separate sitting after the meeting with NSSF, the Committee met members of the National Council for Persons Living with Disabilities (NCPWD) led by the Chief Executive Officer Harun Hassan.

Accompanied by Government Spokesperson and for former Senator Isaac Mwaura who is a member of the Council, they highlighted a number of challenges that they are currently facing. They highlighted such issues as budget deficits, budget cuts, late release of the Council’s funds from treasury resulting to difficulties in absorption among others.

They called for the Committee to help them push for more funding.

The Council will be appearing before the Committee on Tuesday to further engage the Committee on these issues.