The Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare has launched an investigation into the collapse of the Technical University of Kenya Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme (TU-K SRBS), following a petition by affected workers alleging financial mismanagement spanning over a decade and losses amounting to KES 5.3 billion.

During a deeply moving session chaired by Sen Julius Murgor (West Pokot), University Academic Staff Union (UASU) TUK Chapter Secretary Fred Sawenja detailed a troubling sequence of events dating back to July 2009. He revealed that the university began deducting pension contributions from staff salaries without first establishing a registered scheme or governance structures. The scheme was only formally recognised by the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) in November 2013, yet concerns over remittances emerged almost immediately.

“By 2014, the union had already complained to the RBA about missing funds. Within a year of the scheme’s registration, remittances had already become an issue,” Sawenja said.

The committee was stunned to learn that for 15 years, Technical University of Kenya (TUK) deducted employee contributions but failed to remit both the employees’ deductions and the university’s matching contributions to the custodian bank, KCB. Even more troubling, deductions continued after September 2017, when the RBA sought a court order to wind up the scheme and persisted for two months after the High Court formally ordered its liquidation in July 2024.

Sawenja identified former Vice-Chancellor Prof. Francis Aduol, University Bursar and Finance Officer Ben Sanda and Council Legal Officer Ruth Kirwa as key figures in the debacle. However, Sen Murgor questioned why the scheme’s Board of Trustees failed to protect workers’ interests.

Former Trustee and Academic Staff Representative Peter Kanyuira pointed to a conflict of interest within the board, explaining that while three trustees were elected by staff, the university council appointed three others and irregularly co-opted four more, shifting control away from employees.

In response, Sen Beth Syengo moved the committee to invite all individuals implicated, including the scheme administrator (CPF), custodian (KCB) and fund manager (Coop Trust), for further scrutiny.

Sen Miraj Abdullahi expressed solidarity with the petitioners, urging the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General, Francis Atwoli, to explain why the national trade union body had not intervened.

“These workers served this country in their youth, yet in old age, they have been abandoned. We need the trade union boss to tell us why he is not defending their rights,” she said.

Although UASU is not an affiliate of COTU, Sen Murgor reassured petitioners—many of whom are now destitute, experiencing severe psychosocial distress or have passed away—that the committee would ensure justice was served.

“This committee stands with you. We will see this matter through to its logical conclusion,” he vowed.