The Kenya Railways Corporation retirees have called for the overhaul of the parastatal’s staff retirements benefit scheme board for failing its members.
The pensioners from Nyanza region are demanding an urgent general meeting to deliberate on the current position of the scheme that they are saying is on the verge of collapse.
They said the scheme owed its members over Sh.450 million in unpaid monthly pensions, adding that they had not been paid any money for the past six months.
Speaking on behalf of the Former Kenya Railways Workers Association (FOKERAWA), the Nyanza Regional Coordinator, James Aggrey Oduor further called for an audit of the scheme’s transactions, saying that it was shrouded in secrecy.
He said that the current board has messed up the scheme, making its members to wallow in abject poverty.
“The scheme is being mismanaged by a few individuals making Kenya Railways retirees to wallow in poverty, despite it being one of the richest schemes in East and Central Africa,” he said.
Speaking in Siaya town on Friday during FOKERAWA’s monthly meeting, Oduor accused the board of trustees of secretly disposing off the scheme’s assets without the consent of the members.
Flanked by the organisation’s National Organising Secretary, James Kanyeki, Oduor said most of their members were dying for lack of money for their daily upkeep, despite having served diligently fir the corporation during their hey days.
“We have no option but to overhaul the board and start afresh,” he said.
By Philip Onyango
