“I hereby appreciate your efforts to assist my elder brother’s dependents get the death benefits which had taken seven years since 2014. I am proud and the deceased’s children appreciate your noble work. May God in heaven bless the work you are doing to assist the less privileged group in society. The cheque was sent to Public Trustee Eldoret Branch Office in July 2021. Many thanks to the Ombudsman office for a work well done.” These were the words of Mr. Salvo Ekuwam from Turkana County in a thank you note to the Commission.
According to Ekuwam, his brother, Bonventure Ekuwam, died in the line of duty in 2014 and his father David Ekuwam, who is the next of kin, submitted the required documents to the pensions department for processing of his death benefits. Mr. David Ekuwam made several follow ups with the department without any success prompting them to seek the intervention of the Commission in December 2019.
The Commission by way of enquiry took up the issue with Director Pensions who informed the Commission that the delay in processing the benefits was occasioned by scaling down of operations due to the COVID 19 pandemic and promised that the dues would be processed and sent to the Assistant Public Trustee, Eldoret, for administration. Upon further follow up, the pensions department confirmed the release of the funds.
“Please note that processing death benefits in respect to the late Bonventure Ekuwam was finalised on 15th December 2020 and the dues released to Assistant, Public Trustee, Eldoret, for administration. The deceased officer’s legal representative Daniel Ekuwam was notified in writing of the payment to enable him follow up the dues with the Office of the Public Trustee,” read a letter from the pensions department to the Commission.
Mr. Salvo Ekuwam confirmed that his father had received the benefits and thanked the Commission for the intervention.