Prof Francis Aduol, now a commissioner at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, appeared before the Senate to answer questions over Sh39 million that was meant for a staff pension scheme at the Technical University of Kenya.
Senators wanted to know what happened to the money, which was intended to support the retirement savings of university workers.
Aduol served as the vice chancellor of the Technical University of Kenya until his retirement in May 2023. Before the institution became a fully fledged university, he was the founding principal of the Kenya Polytechnic University College when it was established in 2008. In 2013, the college was upgraded to the Technical University of Kenya and Aduol continued to lead the institution as its vice chancellor.
During his time in charge, the university introduced a pension scheme for staff in 2009. The plan was meant to allow employees to save money throughout their working years so they would have financial support after retirement.
However, the pension scheme only received formal approval from regulators in 2013, four years after it had already started operating.
The Sh39 million that is now under scrutiny had been kept in a savings account at Kenya Commercial Bank.
Aduol was one of the officials allowed to sign for transactions from that account, together with other senior university officers including acting deputy vice chancellors, the acting chief accountant and the acting finance officer.
A report presented to the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare by liquidator Longet Terer indicated that the Sh39 million was withdrawn from the KCB account and transferred to the Kenya Polytechnic account.
According to the report, the money was expected to be moved from there into the pension scheme account. However, the liquidator told senators that the funds were never transferred to the pension account as required.
While responding to questions from the committee, Aduol said the university had used the Sh39 million to support its daily operations at a time when it was facing financial challenges.
He explained that government funding was not sufficient to meet all the institution’s needs.
According to him, the money was later included as part of the larger contributions that the university eventually paid into the pension scheme.
Those total contributions were reported to be about Sh441.52 million.
Both the Technical University of Kenya and its predecessor, Kenya Polytechnic University College, said the decision to move the funds was influenced by financial pressure caused by underfunding from the state.
They argued that the institution faced difficulties in running its operations smoothly because of limited government support.
The Senate inquiry is also examining a much larger problem affecting the university’s pension scheme. Records show that the institution has an unremitted pension contribution of about Sh2.85 billion.
When interest meant to cover lost investment opportunities is added, the total amount owed rises to around Sh6.2 billion.
The Retirement Benefits Authority has been involved in the matter for several years. The regulator previously directed the university to develop a recovery plan to address the funding gap and pay the outstanding contributions.
However, those commitments were not fulfilled.
In 2017, the authority appointed an interim administrator to review the situation. At that time, the pension scheme was funded at only 20 percent, far below the 100 percent funding level required by law.
The situation continued to decline and by June 2024 the scheme was reported to be only 13 percent funded.
The scheme had 1,850 members in total. Among them were 1,299 employees who were still working at the university and 551 former workers who had already left but were waiting to receive their retirement benefits.
Due to the continued financial problems, the Retirement Benefits Authority moved to court in 2017 seeking orders to wind up the pension scheme. The High Court of Kenya eventually issued the order in 2024, bringing the scheme to an end after years of financial strain.
This development has caused concern among workers and retirees who had relied on the scheme for their future security. The University Academic Staff Union at the Technical University of Kenya has warned that many long-serving employees now risk losing savings they expected to rely on after retirement.
The Senate began its deeper investigation into the matter in March 2025 following a petition from affected workers. The committee, chaired by nominated Senator Miraj Abdullahi during Aduol’s appearance, is seeking to understand how the pension funds were managed and whether the rights of the members were protected.
The Sh39 million case forms part of the wider investigation into the management of the university’s pension scheme over several years. Aduol has maintained that the money was temporarily used for institutional needs before being accounted for in later pension payments. However, the liquidator’s report suggests that the movement of funds did not match what should have happened within the pension system.
The Senate committee is expected to continue hearing from more witnesses and reviewing financial records.
For many staff members and retirees of the Technical University of Kenya, the investigation represents a chance to finally understand what happened to their retirement savings and whether any recovery of funds will be possible.
