Trade unions call for dialogue over staff audit

NAIROBI, KENYA: Trade unions affiliated to Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) now want the government to come out clear on the public service staff rationalisation programme.

The unions' officials accused the government of planning to retrench civil servants during the process. The unions now want to be  involved in the exercise in a bid to protect the interests of their members.

"From the face of it, the government looks like it wants to send the workers home. It cannot take a unilateral decision on the matter. We need to sit down together and chat the way forward that will not result in any job loss," said Kenya Electrical Trades and Allied Workers Union Secretary General Ernest Nadome.

Admitting that there are some hiccups in service delivery from the public sector, Nadome said the meeting would create a platform to investigate the cause and find amicable solutions to the effect.

Nadome added that the government had to deliver on its promise to create thousands of jobs before thinking of cutting off others.

"There are millions of youth out there sitting idle who need employment, the jubilee government should deliver on this pledge in their manifesto," he said in Nairobi at a press briefing.

He also accused the union of civil servants secretary-general Tom Odege of representing his own interests rather than those of his members. Odege had downplayed the fears, insisting that the exercise would not result in job cuts.

Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, on Monday, assured that the exercise would not result in job layoffs but was rather meant to help facilitate efficient and effective utilisation of the resources and build on the ongoing reform agenda of transforming the public service.

According to Waiguru, the exercise would entail carrying out human resource and skills audit, staff redeployment and transfers where necessary in the coming few months.