County staff retirement pay at risk as pension scheme row hots up

Thousands of county government workers risk retiring without any savings, following a bitter row pitting the Council of Governors, the Attorney General’s office, the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) and the Transition Authority over the form and structure of a proposed new pension scheme.

At stake is about Sh20 billion a year, which the more than 100,000 county government employees contribute as savings for retirement. The figure is made up of over 70,000 staff seconded from the national government and from the 32,000 defunct local authorities and newly recruited county workers.