Former Councillors have petitioned the senate to pressure the National Treasury to pay them a gratuity of Sh2.6 billion recommended in 2021.

The leaders who met in Meru and gave their petition to Meru Senator Kathuri Murungi urged the President to intervene to avert their suffering.

Stephen Kaberia, the chairman of the former Councillors Forum in Meru, said the payment of the gratuity was proposed in 2016 but their pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

The gratuity, which amounted to over Sh25 billion, was later revised to Sh2.6 billion in 2021.

“We have now written a petition to the clerk of the Senate. In the petition, we plead with the Government to immediately pay us because most of us are languishing in poverty. They were the first people to lay the foundation on the current County headquarters and sub county offices,” Mr Kaberia said.

Senator Kathuri said the Kenya Kwanza administration should tap the blessing of these aging leaders by paying their gratuity.

“In 2018, the Senate approved the payment of the gratuity to former councillors. The government arrived at a figure of Sh2.6 billion but money has never been budgeted since 2021. I will be following up the matter to ensure the gratuity is paid,” Kathuri said.

John Gikunda and Simon M’Muketha said former councillors did exceptional work such as securing public land yet they were never honored.

“Many former councillors are sick and others bedridden due to challenges they are going through. The government should give them the gratuity in time,” Mr M’Muketha said.

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