For years, former and current employees of Technical University of Kenya (TUK) have watched their retirement savings remain out of reach, with some pensioners dying without receiving their dues and others waiting for more than a decade for the benefits they worked for.
Even after the now defunct TUK-Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme’s collapse was addressed in 2024 and a liquidator appointed, members say they have been subjected to broken promises, unexplained delays and a frustrating cycle of meetings that have yielded little progress.
The latest setback is the failure to issue individual benefit statements as promised by the liquidator, Long’et and Mumo LLP, during their most recent meeting with the beneficiaries last month.
The meeting also had the fund manager, Co-op Trust, and administrator CPF in attendance as well as a representative of the Retirement Benefits Authority, who attended as an observer.
According to details shared on the institution’s website, CPF was to provide the statements on September 28, a move that would then set the stage for release of the funds to the beneficiaries on October 16.
It assured members that the funds would be paid in two tranches, stating that it would take a process to convert the money into cash since the funds are being held in the form of Treasury Bills, equities and deposits in different institutions where they are invested.
But the lapse of the date without the statements has plunged the members into uncertainty, sinking their hopes further even as the promised payment date draws near.
According to a report presented to the members during the meeting, the auditor had reported that as at 2021, the sponsor (TUK), had remitted to the scheme Sh430 million which, after being invested in 2024, had since grown to Sh906.6 million.
A liquidator’s representative informed the members that they would be paid Sh906.6 million, being the amount available, which was 12.38 per cent of the total amount.
Out of the amount, priority and reservation payments were to be deducted, leaving Sh807,230,599 for distribution among the beneficiaries.
This was after the court gave a direction in a ruling on July 5, 2024, to the institution to effect the interventions.
However, members say the promises have done little to ease their predicament, with the process dragging on even after they provided personal information and validated statements intended to establish their individual entitlements.
A member of the scheme who did not wish to be named claimed that when the deadline passed, members were given another date, October 5, which also elapsed without the statements being issued.
“We have people who retired more than 10 years ago but they still do not have their pension. Some members have died without accessing their money,” the source told The Standard on Sunday.
“This is a contributory scheme where both the employee and employer contribute. But the scheme was not properly funded. By 2024, the employer already owed more than Sh3.5 billion.”
He said, in May last year, the liquidator’s team visited the university and asked members to verify personal statements showing their contributions and the amounts the employer should have contributed during the period in question.
“Members were required to provide their national identity card numbers, copies of their identity cards and bank ATM cards before signing to confirm the accuracy of their statements,” he said.
The exercise raised hopes that payments would soon follow. Instead, members say they have continued waiting without clear communication on the status of their benefits.
“They came to us, asked us to validate our personal statements and provide our details. We did everything they asked, expecting that the money would be paid. Since then, they have been taking us round in circles,” the member lamented.
The members are also concerned why, despite the accumulation of interest and repeated assurances, they have not received a satisfactory explanation of how the available funds will be distributed or how individual payouts have been calculated.
With the statements still outstanding, members doubt that the deadline will be met.
“If up to now no statement has been issued, is that payment on October 16 going to happen? It is not. These people have been playing games with us for almost two years,” the member said, adding, “You can imagine those who are sickly and cannot afford to pay for medical bills. It is sickening.”
