Teachers in Kenya continue to face prolonged delays in receiving pensions and death gratuities, with some claims pending for over six years, a situation the Commission on Administrative Justice says stems from structural and operational weaknesses at the Teachers Service Commission.
The Ombudsman has criticized TSC for merging its pension unit with general human resource functions, a move that has worsened delays and left retirees and families in limbo.
In a statement on Thursday, the Commission called for the urgent reinstatement of a dedicated pension unit, emphasizing that structural reforms are key to ending the backlog.
Commission Chairperson Charles Dulo urged TSC to boost staffing, strengthen supervision, and expand the use of digital systems to process claims efficiently and ensure retirees receive their benefits on time.
The investigation revealed that teachers retiring compulsorily wait between two and four years for pension payments, while death gratuity claims can take from four to more than six years to be processed.
TSC had cited incomplete or incorrect documents from retirees or their next of kin as a factor in delays, but the Ombudsman stressed this was not the main cause.
“Delays [were] largely driven by insufficient staffing, the merger of the pension unit with mainstream HR functions, inadequate resources, weak supervision, and low levels of digitisation,” the Ombudsman said.
“These challenges [were] compounded by the overwhelming workload placed on a limited number of officers.”
The inquiry also identified system-wide issues at the Pensions Department, including frequent outages of the Pension Management Information System, reliance on outdated communication methods, large backlogs of pending files, and verification difficulties for death gratuity claims, particularly in polygamous families or where children were born out of wedlock.
To resolve these issues, the Ombudsman recommended that TSC ensure timely submission of claims, restore a stand-alone pension processing unit, and upgrade both the Human Resource Management Information System and Document Management Information System to full functionality.
Additional measures suggested include stronger supervision, yearly updates of retirees’ bio-data, and review of overpayment policies.
The Commission also called for a First-In-First-Out system for pension payments to guarantee transparency and fairness, and urged the National Treasury to release pension funds promptly as required by law.
The Ombudsman warned that continued delays violate the constitutional right to social protection, noting that some files had remained unresolved since 2014.
The findings were prompted by growing public complaints, including reports on social media and formal submissions to the Commission.
Retirees and their families said they were forced to make repeated visits to TSC offices, only to find missing files and receive minimal information on the progress of their claims.
The Ombudsman concluded that implementing the recommendations will help restore fairness, accountability, and transparency in pension management, ensuring teachers and their beneficiaries receive their lawful entitlements without further delay.
