ADVOKS GLOBAL · KENYA
Pensions Act
2. Interpretation
Edition: 2022-12-31 · In force
2. Interpretation
(1)In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"African District Council service" means service before the 30th April, 1963 under an African District Council established under the African District Councils Act, 1950 (repealed);"General Fund Services" means services which were being administered by the East African Community on behalf of the Republic of Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and the Sovereign State of Uganda under the provisions of Article 43(2) of the Treaty for East African Co-operation, as listed in the Sixth Schedule to this Act;"local authority service" means service on or after the 30th April, 1963 under a local authority established or deemed to have been established under the Local Government Act (Cap. 265);"Cabinet Secretary" means the Cabinet Secretary responsible for matters relating to finance;"other public service" means public service not under the Government;"Overseas Superannuation Scheme" means the United Kingdom scheme to establish a fund to provide service pensions and gratuities and pensions to dependants on a contributory basis for overseas research and allied services;"pensionable emoluments" means—(a)in respect of service under the Government after the 31st December, 1953, includes salary, inducement and overseas addition to salary and personal allowance, but does not include duty allowance, house allowance, entertainment allowance or any other emoluments whatever;(b)in respect of service under the Government between the 1st January, 1946 and the 31st December, 1953, includes salary and personal allowance, but does not include duty allowance, house allowance, entertainment allowance or any other emoluments whatever;(c)for the purpose of calculating the aggregate pensionable emoluments of officers in respect of service under the Government before the 1st January, 1946, means—(i)in the case of an officer who before the 1st January, 1946 held a pensionable office in which he had been confirmed, the emoluments which were pensionable under the European Officers’ Pensions Act (Cap. 66 of 1948) or the Non-European Officers’ Pensions Act (Cap. 67 of 1948) (both repealed), as the case may be; and(ii)in the case of an officer who before the 1st January,1946 held a non-pensionable office or a pensionable office in which he had not been confirmed—(a)the emoluments of the office which would have been pensionable emoluments under the European Officers’ Pensions Act or the Non-European Officers’ Pensions Act, as the case may be, if the office had been a pensionable office and the officer had been confirmed therein;(b)if the officer does not come within the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subparagraph, the salary of the officer together with any house allowance for which he may have been eligible under the terms and conditions of his appointment;(c)in respect of other public service, means emoluments which count for pension in accordance with the law or regulations in force in such service;"pensionable office" means—(a)in respect of an officer’s service under the Government, an office—(i)to which he has been appointed (on probation or otherwise) by the authority having power for the time being to make appointments to the service of the Government on terms which include eligibility for the grant of a pension under this Act or under any Act repealed by this Act; and(ii)which he has not ceased to hold on those terms;(b)in respect of other public service, an office which is for the time being a pensionable office under the law or regulations in force in that service;"Pensions Regulations" means the regulations contained in the First Schedule to this Act;"personal allowance" means a special addition to salary granted personally to the holder for the time being of the office, and which is specifically stated to be pensionable;"public service" means—(a)service in a civil capacity under the Government or under the government of any other country or territory in the Commonwealth;(b)service under the High Commission, the Organization, the Community, the East African Railways and Harbours Administration, the East African Posts and Telecommunications Administration, the East African Railways Corporation, the East African Harbours Corporation, the East African Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, the Kenya Railways Corporation or the Kenya Ports Authority;(c)service which is pensionable—(i)under the Overseas Superannuation Scheme;(ii)under any Acts relating to the superannuation of teachers in the United Kingdom;(iii)under a local authority in the United Kingdom; or(iv)under the National Health Service of the United Kingdom;(d)any other services that the president has determined to be public service for the purposes of this Act;(e)except for the purposes of computation of a pension or gratuity and of section 9 of this Act, service in respect of which a pension may be granted under the Governors’ Pensions Act, 1957 (No. 5 & 6, Eliz. 2, c. 62) of the United Kingdom;(f)service as the holder of the office of President, Vice-President, Justice of Appeal, Registrar, officer or servant of the Court of Appeal for East Africa; or(g)service in the service of the Interim Commissioner for the West Indies;"salary" means the salary attached to a pensionable office or, where provision is made for taking service in a non-pensionable office into account as pensionable service, the salary attached to that office;"service under the Community" does not include service in the service of the East African Airways Corporation or of the East African Development Bank;"service of the Government" or "service under the Government" means public service in a civil capacity in the establishment of the Government or, at any time before the 12th December, 1964, of a Region, and also includes—(a)in the case of an officer who has served as a civilian employee of the East African Land Forces Organization and was either transferred from that service to the service of the Government of Kenya, Uganda or Tanganyika or the High Commission or secured an appointment with any one of those Governments or the High Commission, in either case without any break in service, his service with the East African Land Forces Organization;(b)in the case of the service prior to the 1st July, 1977 of a former Community employee who was on the 1st July, 1977 a Kenya citizen and who had rendered pensionable service in the General Fund Services, such service; and(c)such service in the General Fund Services of such former Community employees who do not come within paragraph (b) above as the Cabinet Secretary may, from time to time, by order declare to be service under the Government;"wife" includes, in the case of an officer under whose religion or tribal custom polygamy is lawful, any person to whom the officer is lawfully married in accordance with the tenets of that religion or tribal custom; and in any such case the amount of any pension, gratuity or other allowance for which a wife is eligible under this Act shall be divided equally among all such wives during the period in which there is more than one wife eligible therefor; and "widow" shall be construed accordingly.(2)For the avoidance of doubt, it is declared that where an officer has been confirmed in a pensionable office and is thereafter appointed to another pensionable office then, unless the terms of that appointment otherwise require, the last-mentioned office is, for the purposes of this Act, an office in which he has been confirmed.(3)Where it appears to the President that there is no satisfactory proof of the correct age of an officer or of any child, the President may, upon such evidence as he may think fit, presume the age of the officer or of the child, and that presumed age shall be taken to be the correct age of the officer or of the child for the purposes of this Act.