Supreme Court Challenges NSSF Kes. 2,160 Deductions
The National Social Security Fund’s (NSSF) Kes. 2,160 deduction has hit a snag after being challenges in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme has challenged the directive after a petition was lodged by the County Pensioners Association.
The Kenya Kwanza administration under President William Samoei Ruto had supported the increase in deductions in order to boost savings culture among Kenyans.
The County Pensioners Association has implored the Supreme Court to stop the NSSF directive with new deductions set to be implemented with February Salaries.
According to the County Pensioners Association, workers would suffer substantial and irreparable harm including a run on pension schemes superior to the NSSF unless the court intervened and stopped the implementation of the disputed act pending hearing and determination of the appeal.
In addition, the association said that the Court of Appeal which had upheld the 2013 Act had not considered workers in its ruling.
As of now the Supreme Court has not issued any directive on the matter.
NSSF’s Kes. 2,160 deductions were set to kick in in February 2023, with employees required to contribute half of the new rate. Despite opposition from several workers’ groups the Central Organization Trade Union (COTU) supported the decision to increase deductions with COTU Chief Francis Atwoli having said that the move would benefit employees.
Atwoli stated that many workers had only been contributing to and receiving funds from the Tier 1 provident fund which is a lump sum payment that workers had been receiving at a go.
The County Pensioners Association filed the petition with the Supreme Court in a bid to overturn the NSSF’s directive to increase deductions to Kes. 2,160.
With the directive the government wanted to create a savings culture among Kenyans. Even though COTU supported the move, the County Pensioners Association argued that workers would be affected the most since other employers had better pension schemes.
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