Ruto Directs NSSF Kenya to Pay Retirement Benefits Within 10 Days
Saturday, October 10 2026 9:30 am
By Kenyans.co.ke
President William Ruto has directed Kenya’s National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and other agencies responsible for retirement benefits to ensure public servants receive their benefits within 10 days of retirement.
Speaking during the World Teachers’ Day celebrations at Kasarani on Monday, October 5, Ruto said the changes would help end long delays that have forced retirees to wait months before receiving their benefits.
“The agencies responsible have assured me that within the next three months, we will be able to pay a teacher’s retirement benefit within ten days of their retirement,” Ruto stated.
Ruto said the Pension Management Information System (PMIS), rolled out on July 1 by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the National Treasury, forms part of the measures aimed at speeding up retirement payments.
According to the President, officials are currently uploading records into the system, a process expected to reduce delays in processing retirement benefits.
Ruto said teachers should not be left to struggle after leaving the classroom, adding that retirees must be spared the stress of moving from one government office to another to access their benefits.
“We want to change that culture of retired public servants moving from one public office to another to check if their retirement benefits are in order,” Ruto added.
The Head of State stressed that the changes will not benefit teachers alone, as his administration wants the same approach applied to all workers across the public service.
Ruto said he has given clear instructions to the NSSF that all retirement benefits for public workers must be ready and paid within 10 days of retirement.
In practice, this means a retiring civil servant, teacher or other public worker should receive their money about ten days after leaving service, once the system is fully operational.
Before the recent reforms and introduction of the digital Electronic Pension Management Information System (e-PMIS), retirees often faced unpredictable delays, with benefits taking months or even years to process.
Although the law provided a processing window of 90 days, bureaucratic backlogs and manual paperwork caused severe delays, with some Ombudsman cases involving retirees who waited between 4 and 26 years.
The delays were blamed on missing physical files, inaccurate pension records, audit discrepancies and late documentation, with some government departments preparing retirees’ profiles only after they had already left office.
