President William Ruto has instructed the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and other agencies responsible for public servants’ retirement benefits to ensure retirees are paid within 10 days of retiring.

The President made the directive on Monday, 5 th October 2026, during the national celebration of World Teachers Day at Kasarani in Nairobi, saying that the government was overhauling the pension system to end the long queues of retirees crisscrossing government ministries to follow-up on their retirement benefits.

“I have given very clear instructions to the National Social Security Fund that going forward all retirement benefits of all our public workers must be ready and paid within ten days of a citizen’s retirement,” the President said.

The President noted that the government started rolling out the Pension Management Information System on July 1 st 2026 through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and National Treasury. The new system will enable digitization of pension records to free retirees from the endless queues in government ministries to follow up on their retirement benefits.

The President said government agencies were migrating their records to the new system as a preparatory measure for the roll-out. In his remarks, the Head of State said the agencies had assured him they would achieve the ten-day targets for teachers’ retirement benefits within three months.

“On July 1, 2026, the TSC and the National Treasury began rolling out the Pension Management Information System to fast-track retirement benefits,” Ruto said.

He said the retirement benefits revolution would start with teachers before being extended to all public servants.

“We want to make it uniform across the public service,” the President said.

The directive comes as concerns mount over the long delays in processing retirement benefits for public servants.

According to the National Treasury, delayed retirement benefits processing have been a perennial problem in the past. The Public Service Department’s 2026/2027 Budget Statement indicates that the e-Pension Management Information System was adopted to expedite the processing of claims. The document notes that manual submission of pensions claims was discontinued upon the system’s launch.

The President was objecting to the irregular practice where retirees follow up on their retirement benefits from one government ministry to another.

“We want to change that culture of retired public servants going from one public office to another to inquire whether their retirement benefits are in order,” Ruto said.

Moreover, the President objected to teachers retiring seeking politicking from the government to release their retirement benefits. President Ruto’s ten-day directive for the processing of retirement benefits will be a huge relief to retirees. The new retirement benefits policy will be implemented in tandem with the digitization of pension records.

Government agencies had been given three months to implement the new retirement benefits policy as per the President’s directive. Accordingly, the successful implementation of the new policy will depend on the collation of accurate employment and pension records and effective interministerial coordination.

The President said the intention was to have a uniform system that will apply to all public servants as opposed to a limited implementation starting with teachers.