Kenya has a good opportunity to reform its social security system

Kenya became the second country in Africa after Ghana to set up a National Social Security Scheme in 1965. [File, Standard]

The decision by the new administration to open dialogue with stakeholders to pave way for the implementation of the National Social Security Fund Act No. 45 of 2013 has ignited national debate with varied opinions. The irony of these conversations is that none is addressing the thrust and impact of the expected reforms.

To best understand why we have ended up here, let's dive back into where we have come from. Barely 18 months into independence, the government in 1965 published a policy paper titled 'African socialism and its application to planning in Kenya', famously referred to as Sessional Paper No. 10. The paper introduced a National Health Insurance Scheme and a National Provident Fund. There was an implied inter-linkage between the two schemes which would never come to be in operationalisation. But let's dwell on the latter.