Kenya Railways retirees in Siaya threaten to sue parastatal

Over 800 Kenya Railways retirees in Siaya County have threatened to sue the parastatal over delayed pension payments for the last five months.

According to Kenya Railways Pensioners’ Association Siaya County branch chairman Mzee Richard Ongoma Osuri they have not been paid their pension since September 2018.

They pleaded with the management of the Kenya Railways to move with speed and clear the pension arrears, failure to which they may be forced to seek legal redress.

The association treasurer Lucas Otieno Okumu said: “ This was happening despite an assurance that they had been given during their last annual general meeting that the pension arrears will all be settled before the end of last year.”

Mzee Okumu further claimed that some retirees have not been able to pay school fees for their children or even access proper health care.

“We call upon the government to intervene so that we can get our payments,” he said.

One of the Association members Mzee Bernard Wamango Ondiff echoed the officials’ statement and accused those employed at the Kenya Railways Staff Retirement Benefit Scheme of delaying payments at the expense of the retirees.

On January 11 last year, similar claims of delayed payments emerged with pensioners saying they had not received money owed to them for four months.

The pensioners even marched to the scheme’s offices in Nairobi to deliver their petition.