Kenya Government targets 26,000 ‘unskilled’ workers in wage bill purge

Public Service Commission chairperson Margaret Kobia during the launch of a wealth declaration and capacity building programme in Nairobi yesterday. [PHOTO: EDWARD KIPLIMO/STANDARD]

The Government, through the Public Service Commission (PSC) will not succumb to pressure and retrench workers in a bid to ease the ballooning public wage bill.

Instead, there will be a Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) exercise, which is part of the employee audit in the capacity assessment and rationalisation of the PSC targeting 26,000 civil servants who are said to be unskilled. Most of these workers are those absorbed into the public service from the municipal councils when devolution came into play.

“These workers do not have the technical know-how, which makes it difficult for them as well as the Government to engage them in this age of evolving technologies. Many of them just have primary school level education,” said PSC Chair Margaret Kobia.

Ms Kobia said through VER, the commission anticipates that the unskilled civil servants will come forward: “This will give us an opportunity to hire more staff but strategically since we do not have enough geologists, engineers, architects and health workers,” she added.

Kobia was speaking during the launch of the 2014/15 Biennial Wealth Declaration and Capacity Building Programme. She said the exercise will not be used as a basis of early retirement as earlier perceived.

“This is normal exercise which is different from the ongoing employee audit launched by the President in 2014. Civil servants should not be afraid to take part in it,” said Kobia.

According to Part IV of the public officer ethics Act, CAP 183, the PSC is required to administer the declarations of incomes, assets and liabilities for public officers: “The turnout has been improving with now over 95 per cent of civil servants declaring their wealth.”

She added that the wealth declaration exercise will be a ground-breaking start for the earlier proposed lifestyle audit of civil servants: “By declaring income, assets and liabilities, public servant will be exercising transparency.”

Public servants have been on the spot over misuse of public funds which have been blamed for the ballooning wage bill.

However, Kobia said there was no harm in paying the servants more. “Wage bill can only increase if productivity increases.”Currently, Kenya’s productivity index stands at 0.84.