Civil servants in Imenti North Sub County, Meru County were on Thursday taken through a sensitisation process on the Public Service Superannuation Scheme (PSSS).
The new scheme which took effect in January 2021, is a plan where both government and employees make set contributions to the scheme for the benefit of the member at retirement, based on the scheme credit and investment income, as opposed to the earlier plan where the amount to be paid to a retiree was determined based on a formula.
The amount to be paid in the old plan was also based on the length of service and the annual basic salary at the time of retirement.
Speaking during the exercise that was held at Imenti North DCC’s office, Assistant Director of pensions Mr Paul Mutua said the new scheme was superior to the old one in many ways and would be of great benefit for retirees.
“The scheme meets all the requirement of a good pension system including providing source of security, reduce old age poverty, as well as safeguard the dignity of the pensioners in the eyes of other members of the public,” said Mutua.
He said the other important benefit of the PSSS was that it was portable, meaning that one could exit the public service and still carry his benefits to his new scheme.
“This is as opposed to the old defined benefit scheme where exiting the service before attaining the age of 50 years was taken to mean that one had resigned and could therefore not enjoy any pension benefits,” said Mutua.
The new scheme covers all civil servants, Teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission, National Police Service Officers, Prison officers and National Youth Service.
The scheme members will be expected to contribute 7.5 per cent of their monthly basic salary while the government will on the other hand contribute 15 percent. Members are however allowed to increase their contributions as they wish.
By Dickson Mwiti
