Nairobi News

Kenya has significantly improved the welfare of senior citizens in the last 10 years, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.

The president made the remarks on Thursday when he officially opened the landmark Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) Pension Towers in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD).

“It is often stated that one of the best measures of how progressive a country is is how it treats its older citizens. And by that measure, Kenya has over the last decade dramatically improved the way we treat our senior citizens,” President Kenyatta said.

The president also said he is proud to be the first Kenyan president to institutionalize a framework for supporting senior citizens through the Inua Jamii Programme, which currently has more than one million beneficiaries, in recognition of their contribution to the development of the nation.

The head of state said the magnificent building is the fruit of decades of dedicated service to the nation by the senior citizens, a towering symbol of a legacy of good works, and proof of the wisdom of investing in the future.

“What is also admirable about the construction of this building is that it was fully financed from internal resources of the Pension Fund, with no contribution from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). I am confident that the returns arising from this investment will return a healthy dividend, thus providing financial resources that will take care of you and afford you a comfortable retirement,” he said.

He also commended the CBK Pension Fund for tapping from local human capital, noting that the professionals that were entrusted to put the towers together as architects, quantity surveyors, and engineers were all young Kenyans.

The president also pointed out that the inauguration of the building celebrates the rising role of the pensions industry in accelerating the achievement of the national development agenda, adding that Kenya now compares favourably with the developed markets in terms of the management of pension funds.