{"id":116028,"date":"2025-06-04T14:03:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T14:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/mbadi-admits-existence-of-ghost-pensioners-promises-cleanup-and-overhaul-of-system\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T14:03:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T14:03:27","slug":"mbadi-admits-existence-of-ghost-pensioners-promises-cleanup-and-overhaul-of-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/mbadi-admits-existence-of-ghost-pensioners-promises-cleanup-and-overhaul-of-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Mbadi Admits Existence of Ghost Pensioners, Promises Cleanup and Overhaul of System"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 4 \u2013 Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has admitted the existence of ghost beneficiaries within the government\u2019s pension payroll and pledged sweeping reforms to eliminate fraud, and restore trust in the pension system.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CS appeared before the Senate to respond to questions on delayed payments, systemic corruption in pension administration, underfunding, and the digitisation of records. <\/p>\n

He said delays are largely due to late submission of retirement claims, incomplete documentation, and liquidity constraints.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrict pension verification procedures are being instituted, and this will help us reduce errors, fraudulent submissions, and unauthorized payments,\u201d Mbadi told Senators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working with commercial banks and financial institutions to monitor dormant pension accounts, flag suspicious activity, and prevent unauthorized withdrawals.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further disclosed that the National Treasury is integrating biometric verification systems with the National Savings Registry to detect deceased pensioners in real time and prevent continued payments to non-existent beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are alive to the fact that some pensioners who are no longer alive continue to receive payments.Through biometric pension verification and the e-pension system, we are working to stop this,\u201dhe said.<\/p>\n

Mbadi confirmed that the National Treasury has deployed 18 pension officers to agencies like the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to speed up processing in the verification and submission of the pension claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne is timely submission of retirement notices. Employers are required to notify employees of retirement at least one year in advance and to submit pension claims to the pension department nine months before the official retirement age,\u201dhe noted.<\/p>\n

He also outlined ongoing enhancements to the Pension Management Information System to reduce manual processing and improve data integrity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Treasury has onboarded a contractor to develop an enterprise resource planning solution which fully digitizes pension, and that online claims submission will be done, self-service portal, automated approvals, integration with key government databases is also being addressed,\u201dthe National Treasury said.<\/p>\n

Mbadi said the system is scheduled to be fully operational by July 1, 2025 that we will automatically transit those who are from the payroll to the pension payroll.<\/p>\n

The CS assured Senators that payments are being prioritized to ensure the persistent problem of unpaid pensions doesn\u2019t spill into new budget cycles.<\/p>\n

\u201cPension payments are treated as a first charge obligation in the national budget, ensuring they are allocated sufficient funds,\u201d Mbadi said.<\/p>\n

He revealed that by the end of May, the Treasury had disbursed KSh17.4 billion in pension payments and had KSh16.9 billion still pending. Last year, the carryover stood at KSh23 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are going to do much better than last year, although we should do 100%,\u201dMbadi remarked.<\/p>\n

Mbadi said that while pension funds operate independently, corrective action would follow recommendations by Parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Auditor General has flagged it out\u2026 I would only wait for the parliamentary committee to conclude its work, make recommendations\u2026 and then action can be taken,\u201dhe expressed.<\/p>\n

The CS also addressed access challenges for pensioners in rural areas, saying the Treasury is moving toward a fully digital and decentralised system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are having a self-service portal\u2026 even at the comfort of their homes, they can access almost all the services that they need\u2026 and we have also put in place services at Huduma centers to support this,\u201dMbadi noted.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 4 \u2013 Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has admitted the existence of ghost beneficiaries within the government\u2019s pension payroll and pledged sweeping reforms to eliminate fraud, and restore trust in the pension system. The CS appeared before the Senate to respond to questions on delayed payments, systemic corruption in pension administration, underfunding, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116028\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}