For decades, Kenya’s public pension and health insurance systems have promised the safety of workers in retirement and security during illness.
But for many citizens, Thesis’s promises have now turned the gymnastics into disappointment and horrific because the money they have contributed honestly have ended in the pocket of the fraudsters within the system.
In 2024, a report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu revealed more than 260,000 cases of fraud activities targeting pension schemes in Kenya.
Between 2013 and 2020, more than 67 billion Kenyan shillings ($ 515 million, € 442 million) were lost through payment of fake pension scheme.
Meanwhile, the valid retiring is left empty -handed, and the older people are waiting to get that pension, while they have worked so hard.
A person DW spoke disintegrated to be quoted for this story, fearing that speaking would give any remaining opportunity to get any time to get what his family still owed.
John Vachira, the general secretary of the Kenya Association of Retired Officers, however, speaks.
“When you join the pension scheme, you are promised that you retire, you will get your pension. And it will be reviewed regularly, so that your pension will be reviewed if the salary increases.
Instead of enjoying the fruits of their labor, retired Kenyan is still facing old delays, requests for bribery and opaque procedures that make them feel powerless.
Public cuts, private burden
Payment for the country’s pension and health insurance schemes is mandatory for Kenyan; You cannot get out. Pension contribution is made through the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), and health insurance provides through the Social Health Fund (SHIF).
However, many Kenyan feel forced to pay for private insurance at the top of public insurance to ensure that they need care when needed. But this option is mostly limited to middle and upper classes, as many kenya cannot pay twice.
Vachira argues that people expect pension to ensure that “when you leave service, you maintain a certain standard” – the same standard, he said, when you are in service, and who should not fall “due to inflation”. ,
If the contribution is mandatory and consistent, but not paying, where does the money go?
How the guesthouse Ms. gave money
In the 2024 Auditor General’s report, senior officials managing the pension scheme managed the pension scheme as a fraudster within the national treasury, not to steal from funds and to steal from funds through double payment to duplicate accounts.
According to the report, around 15,000 people benefited from cheating pension payments of more than $ 15 million.
Some of these payments went to a person who started receiving pension payment even before he retired. Despite not following the correct procedures, some recipeed payments. Others were given a payment without the registry, as they were only added to the system, later to cover their tracks when they were audited.
The report highlighted issues with proper identity and lack of missing records, bureaucracy and systemic data weaknesses.
Auditors found serious systemic ulopols in the pension scheme, including irregularities in almost all major ministries, including for foreign affairs, social security and judiciary.
For those who receive their pension, they claim that salary does not reflect the state of inflation in the country.
The scale of the problem is difficult to measure, as there are no concrete formal records of the affected people, and most cases become fragrant. But based on many accounts, the issue affects people from lower to middle class in different areas of society.
In a recent case, who incited nationwide anger, lost more than 2,400,000 Kenya shillings in pension payment after colliding with bank bank employees to remove their benefits by a retired teacher, Vilet Akota Natol, corrupt pension officials.
In Kenya, it would have been sufficient to buy a small plot of land in her house.
Health insurance funds bang on so on
Another devastation for government trinity is a shock, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Dual has recently admitted that the Health Insurance Scheme was Fraw’s target.
On 1 July, the dual announced that 35 hospitals across the country alleged to have stealed more than $ 804 million from the health tax fund of what Kenai has contributed.
Fraw and corruption with Kenya’s Public Health Insurance System leading to bee on the issue of establishing the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) in 1966, highlighting various scams in decades and highlights systemic weaknesses and mismanagement.
In 2024, the NHIF was replaced by the Social Health Authority (SHA), aimed at introducing a more comprehensive health system with several schemes to improve access and strength.
But the new authority is already struggling with matters of corruption, Frau and mismanagement.
In a post on X in late August, Dual stated that fake claims, including SHA claims, “flying records, puffing and phantom billing, upkoding (when a provider converts bill bills for more expensive process) and outpatient visits into expensive inconsistent claims.”
Jeffrey Mavaniki feels cheated after an experience at Kenai Hospital.
Hey was admitted to Moi Referral Hospital in Aldorats on 1 July and was forced to exclude his bills from the pocket despite the monthly contribution to the SHA fund.
Talking with DW, Mwaniki said that Sha refused him to the code that he needed to issue the necessary funds, stating that “System Down was,” who “who” is not issued a password to issue passwords. “
When the system returned, he said, Sha accepted his request, but he argued that he would not have “not to handle cases that were under the system.”
Coincidentally, but it was by design, “Mavaniki said, suspected of the continuous breakdown of the system,” had “patients to prevent their money from reaching their money”.
“It really killed me, because I had to borrow some money to offset my bill to be discharged from the hospital,” said Heer.
If he had an alternative, Hast had a sha insurence, but he said, but it is essentially, “it is mandatory.”
Is digitization a possible fix or any other empty promise?
To target widespread delays and Frau, the Kenyan government promised to fully digitize the pension payment system from July 1, 2025.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mabadi told Kenyan Senate MPs that the current manual system not only delays pension disbursement, but is therefore highlighting retirement for refined Ms. schemes.
However, the public disturbance, which began earlier this year, suggests that many Kenyan people already have free confidence in government policies, including social security systems that are mandatory, but do not always pay.
Edited by: Uwe Hessler