Pensioners petition CJ on sale of Railways property

The battle for control of a multi-billion shilling property belonging to Kenya Railways Corporation pensioners has gone to Chief Justice David Maraga.

At the centre of the dispute is the management of a lucrative property portfolio that includes land in upmarket neighbourhoods in various towns.

Among the complaints raised by a faction of the retirees are claims of unfair court rulings that have halted the sale of prime assets, mostly land and houses.

Another group is pushing for the disposal of the property to pay retirement benefits to thousands of mostly destitute former railways employees.

Johnson Miano, the chairman of the retirees' association, has lodged the complaint received by the CJ on August 31. 

Mr Miano’s complaint adds a new twist to the dispute that has dogged the railways pension scheme since it was formed.

He wants the firm managing the scheme, Corporate Trustees, to be retained.

Miano cited several court rulings in his attempt to prove supposed bias.

In an August 17 ruling, for instance, the trustees were barred from selling the scheme assets in an interim injunction in which the judge agreed with the plaintiffs about probable wastage of assets.

"As a result, the retirees have not been paid for four months," Miano says in his petition to the CJ.

Another group of employees formerly employed by Rift Valley Railways has accused the firm of disposing of its assets at below market prices.

Private firm

Rift Valley Railways, the private firm that operated the commuter transport on a concession agreement for 10 years, has since left the country. The employees were reabsorbed by Kenya Railways Corporation.

Yet another group wants the properties redeveloped to take advantage of the profitable housing market where rents remain high owing to a biting shortage of homes.

Previous arguments supporting the disposal of properties rather than development was that the pension scheme was closed to new members.

Another argument was that, considering there were many former workers who were yet to start receiving monthly retirement benefits because they had not attained the retirement age, developing the properties would be most ideal.

Corporate Trustees was selected to run the scheme after the previous managers were kicked out.

This followed complaints that pensioners went for months before receiving their ben