31/05/2026
JUDICIAL RELIEVE:- ATWOLI RESIGN:-
Court Rejects NSSF Bid to Revive 2013 Act, Dealing Blow to Higher Contributions
Salaried Kenyans have received temporary relief after the Court of Appeal issued a ruling on the legal framework governing increased NSSF deductions under the NSSF Act, 2013.
The relief follows the court's decision to dismiss an application by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) seeking to suspend a judgment that declared the Act unconstitutional.
In a ruling delivered on May 29, 2026, the appellate court rejected NSSF's bid to temporarily revive the law while pursuing an appeal, finding that the Fund had failed to demonstrate that refusing an application against it would cause irreparable harm to the pensions sector.
The three-judge bench noted that while NSSF had raised arguable legal questions, including whether the Employment and Labour Relations Court erred in finding that the Act required Senate participation before its enactment, merely presenting an arguable appeal was not sufficient.
Undated image of the Milimani Law Courts
Undated image of the Milimani Law Courts Photo
To obtain a stay order, NSSF was required to prove that its appeal would be rendered worthless if the court declined to suspend the lower court's decision. According to the judges, the Fund failed to meet that threshold.
NSSF had warned of potential chaos within the pension sector, claiming that the invalidation of the NSSF Act of 2013 could disrupt contributions, affect the Haba na Haba savings scheme, expose hundreds of thousands of members to uncertainty, and interfere with billions of shillings in pension funds.
However, the Court of Appeal found that the Fund had not backed those claims with sufficient evidence, with the judge noting that NSSF had not presented audited accounts, actuarial assessments, or other empirical data to support assertions of impending financial and operational disruption.
The court further observed that the respondents had shown that NSSF contributions had previously been collected under the older NSSF framework for years without any evidence of systemic collapse or governance challenges.
This simply means that the savings fund could temporarily revert to the old legal framework of salary deductions since the current framework implemented in 2013 is still unconstitutional until the application by NSSF is heard and determined.
Former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo welcomed the decision, arguing that the ruling reaffirmed the principle that constitutional violations cannot be overlooked just because public institutions claim that compliance with court orders would create administrative difficulties.
"The Court of Appeal has dismissed NSSF’s application to suspend the ELRC judgment that declared the NSSF Act, 2013, unconstitutional. In simple terms, the Court has refused to revive an invalid law through interim orders," she said.
"The judges reaffirmed the well‑known Rule 5(2)(b) test, which states that an applicant must show both an arguable appeal and that, without a stay, the appeal would be rendered nugatory," Faith added.
The ruling leaves intact the earlier judgment declaring the NSSF Act, 2013, unconstitutional, pending the hearing and determination of NSSF's appeal.
