President William Ruto has proposed a review of the monthly contribution to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
Speaking during a thanksgiving service at the Statehouse, the president said that the contributions should be modified from the prevailing Ksh200 per month to reflect how much one earns.
This comes after the High Court on September 20, 2022, blocked a plan to raise monthly contributions ten times a new high of Ksh2,068 after finding that the law enabling the increases was unconstitutional. The NSSF Act of 2013 was declared invalid by Justices Mathews Nduma, Hellen Wasilwa, and Monica Mbaru because it did not follow the Constitution’s requirement that public input is obtained before key decisions are made.
“Do you know that everybody who works in Kenya only contributes Ksh200 per month as savings even the ones who earn much more? We are re-engineering that so that all Kenyans have enough savings for their future,” President Ruto said.
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He said his government would also set aside money for the unemployed Kenyans.
“For the ones who are not yet employed, the government will save for them. If any Kenyan saves an amount then the government will give them money equivalent to a percentage of their savings, which will go to their savings kitty,’’ he added.
The President also pointed out that he inherited a struggling economy, and it was time for the government to act wisely so that there is a stronger saving strategy that will allow it to go slow on overseas financing.
“We cannot continue to borrow from the savings of others. We need to build our country with our savings. Let us borrow from our savings so that we can give interest to our lenders. We need to leave an inheritance to our children, not debt and encourage a savings culture. That is the only way we can stop being slaves of our lenders. We should aim to start lending to others,” he said.
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Currently, the country’s public debt stands at Ksh 8.4 trillion, as a result, the parliament raised the debt cap to Ksh10 million.
The President used his first speech at the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York last week to appeal for leniency from financial institutions on behalf of nations that were severely affected by the prolonged drought and the coronavirus pandemic.
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