Treasury on the spot over Sh1bn insurance claims

Acting Treasury CS Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani at a past function. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • MPs were Wednesday appalled that the intended beneficiaries are yet to benefit from the scheme since it was started 10 years ago.
  • For the 10 years that the scheme has existed, the government, through the National Treasury has been allocating Sh15 billion annually to the insurance kitty.

The National Treasury is on the spot after it emerged that it is withholding more than Sh1 billion in insurance claims to civil servants who have died or got injured in the line of duty.

This comes as Parliament launched investigations into the whereabouts of over Sh150 billion allocated by the National Treasury as insurance cover for public servants.

MPs were Wednesday appalled that the intended beneficiaries are yet to benefit from the scheme since it was started 10 years ago.

Appearing before the Labour and Social Welfare Committee of the National Assembly, Labour Principal Secretary Peter Tum said that his ministry has computed all the claims and sent them to Treasury for payment.

COMPENSATING VICTIMS

“All the claims have been processed over time and sent to the PS for payment,” a statement presented to the committee by Mr Tum and signed by acting Treasury CS Ukur Yattani, who is interestingly the substantive Labour CS, reads in part.

“Now that the Labour Ministry has done its part; it’s now for us to look for Treasury. They must come and tell us why the delay in compensating the victims,” Mr Wario ordered.

The matter was triggered after the Union of Kenya Civil Servants deputy secretary-general Jerry ole Kina filed a petition in the National Assembly questioning the delay in compensating the affected families.

For the 10 years that the scheme has existed, the government, through the National Treasury has been allocating Sh15 billion annually to the insurance kitty.

The fund exists to provide compensation to employees for work-related injuries and diseases contracted in the course of employment.

PREMIUMS

Intriguingly, despite the deaths and injuries of public officers reported, the victims or their families are yet to get a penny in compensation from the kitty.

They have instead had to rely on the insurance companies contracted by the individual government institutions they work for. The fund has also not been audited for the period it has existed.

The formula for allocating premiums is 2.25 per cent of the annual wage roll of all public servants.

The public servants within the definition of the manual include officers in the civil service, National Police Service, judiciary, Kenya Defence Forces, county governments, public universities, parliamentary service, state corporations and all other statutory bodies.