Nairobi Water retirees threaten protests over Sh4 billion pension arrears

 

Representatives of Nairobi city water and sewerage pensioners during a press briefing in Nairobi on November 25, 2025.

Retired and current employees of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company plan mass demonstrations beginning December 2 to demand payment of more than Sh4 billion in pension arrears, they say the utility has withheld for nearly two decades.

The workers, through the County Pensioners Association and Water Services Workers Union, accuse both Nairobi County Government and the water company of failing to remit statutory pension deductions despite repeated appeals.

Peter Njihia, a representative of Nairobi Water pensioners, said the retirees gave their lives to public service but are now dying poor without their benefits.

According to the union, Nairobi Water owes Sh2.6 billion to Local Authority Pension Trust, Sh900 million to Local Authority Provident Fund and Sh500 million to the County Pension Fund.

Water Services Workers Union National General Secretary Matilda Kimeto said much of the debt represents money deducted from salaries but never remitted to pension schemes.

"This is literally employees' salaries; they deducted the money and never sent it to the pension houses. People retired with peanuts. Now they are dying," Kimeto said.

The association vowed to mobilise workers and retirees for a three-day picket from December 2 to 4 if the arrears remain unpaid.

The union accuses Nairobi Water management and board of stopping a Sh3.5 million daily standing order in 2022 that had been agreed upon in 2016 to pay current contributions and clear arrears.

With this arrangement halted, interest and penalties have accumulated at rates Kimeto said now exceed what a bank loan would have cost.

"We waited seven, eight years for that bank loan to be completed; it would have cleared the debt by 2023. But the governor came up with another arrangement and left ours hanging. There is no goodwill," Kimeto said.

A bank loan to clear the debt had been fully processed and approved, awaiting only the county assembly endorsement, according to the union.

In a letter dated April 3, 2025, Nairobi County Executive Committee Member for Finance and Economic Planning Charles Kerich told Nairobi Water management that the county had initiated talks with the National Government on the settlement of debts owed to the county.

Kerich noted the county intends to include debts owed by Nairobi Water to pension schemes in a broader debt net-off arrangement with the national government.

 He directed the company to provide a detailed breakdown of debts owed to the Local Authority Pension Trust for possible inclusion.

However, officials from a rival union, Kenya Union of Water and Sewerage Employees, argue the responsibility lies with Nairobi County Government and the National Treasury, not the water company.

Wycliff Onditi, a Nairobi Water staff member and branch secretary of the County Government Workers Union, said the debt has been growing since 2010, long before current leadership took charge.

"Demonstrations should be directed where the law places the burden at City Hall and the National Treasury. Nairobi Water does not have the legal authority to pay that debt," Moses Murungaru, the Nairobi Water branch chair in the County Government Workers Union, said.

The pension debt split between Sh1.06 billion accrued before devolution and Sh1.15 billion that accumulated between April 2013 and December 2021 has grown over the years due to unpaid contributions, accrued interest and actuarial deficit.

The debt arose after staff working in the defunct water and sewerage department of Nairobi City Council were absorbed by the water company.