The recent pronouncement on pension payout within six (6) months by the Cabinet Secretary for Education, CS Machogu, brings more bad memories than relief to most teachers and their families. Memories of pain rather than joy. Memories of those who died without ever enjoying the fruit of their hard, long labor. Memories of betrayal by institutions they dedicated all their lives to, and some trusted to protect them. A long time of begging and knocking on doors without success. Decades of pure agony and disillusionment.
It’s been a journey of systems failure. A game of cat and mouse within institutions. Blame games, without an end. Institutions tossing retired teachers left, right, and center, some even to their graves. We have witnessed the Teachers Service Commission blaming the pension department, and the Treasury for not paying out the pensions. We have heard the treasury blaming the Attorney general over some law. We have seen the TSC blaming the old, tired teachers over some lacking documentation, despite years of engagement. We have seen the Ministry blaming the government over unsettled promises. And not even the courts have been spared in the bigger schemes of failure for decades.
Is there a refund, or probably an apology to all those who died without ever getting their pension? Is there a refund for families that had big plans with the pensions payout but all came to a halt over the failure of these institutions to honor their end of responsibility? The stories of corruption in these offices have seen teachers use their dotage to travel to Nairobi offices, in the hope of getting their money. Stories of cartels in TSC and other offices that have been taking the little money our retired teachers had in the promise of processing their pensions. And yet, despite the long hard terrain, these issues and people responsible for such acts of inhumane to our teachers, remain untouched.
And when you follow up to understand why the teachers and not the rest of the civil servants, you once again get hit by the un ever-changing laxity and bureaucracy within our institutions. Notable disagreements over small issues that would then be easier to overrun with proper management of our processes. Noncommittal laws that only add to the back-and-forth engagements that are truly unnecessary. And maybe, that is why our President, His Excellency, William Ruto realized the problem and advised institutions to be settling disputes within internal frameworks, rather than dragging each other into courts for years, at the detriment of service delivery to the citizens.
When we remember the pain most retired teachers have had to go through to have their pension, even some going to court for decades to seek lawful intervention on the money they worked for and deserve, we can only hope, that this pronouncement of payouts within six (6) months, brings an end to the suffering. We hope teachers just like all the other civil servants will get their pension payout on time. We hope the systems will work and the synchronization will be flawless and timely. We hope six months means six months, or less. We hope retirement will not mean the beginning of pain but pure bliss for all retired teachers in our country.
