State and public officers wait for last payslip ahead of polls

IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati.

It’s a race against time as top government honchos, parastatal chiefs and other highly placed and paid public officers empty their lockers as they plot how to use their last payslips.

In the next few weeks days, State and public officers interested in elective seats will vacate their tastefully furnished and air-conditioned offices and hit the dusty streets in search of votes. Literally, thousands of these officers are just one payslip away from joblessness as their last pay is this January. However, depending on their prospects, some will reclaim their payslips in August while others will not.

Yesterday, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairperson Wafula Chebukati said as far his commission is concerned, the deadline remains February 9, six months to the elections.

“As per the provisions of the Elections Act, 2011, public officers who are interested to contest in the 2022 General Election should vacate office by February 9, 2022,” he stated yesterday.

Chebukati, however, noted that in 2017, the Employment and Labour Relations Court sitting at Kericho declared section 43 (5) of the Elections Act requiring public officers to quit office six months to the General Election to be discriminative, unconstitutional, null and void. The Court of Appeal in Nyeri later stayed the judgment of the Employment and Labour Relations Court pending hearing and determination of their appeal. The appeal is yet to be determined.

On December 21, 2021, the Employment and Labour Relations Court sitting at Nairobi granted exparte interim orders restraining IEBC from barring any public officer from vying for any elective seat on account of failing to quit office before February 9. The court also granted orders of stay of the operation of the said section pending an inter-partes hearing on January 24, 2022. Yesterday, Chebukati said the Commission had brought to the attention of the court, the existing orders of stay of the Court of Appeal pending in Kericho.

He said they will await the directions the Employment and Labour Relations Court will give on the matter.

“The Commission has brought to the attention of the court, the subsisting orders of stay of the Court of Appeal pending determination of the appeal against the judgment of Employment and Labour Relations Court case in Kericho and will await the directions of the court,” he said.

But granted their desire to hit the ground running, and the need to catch up with their competitors, the exit from the service is nevertheless imminent.  The migration from posh government jobs applies as high as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cabinet where half the members are biding their time just as tens of Principal Secretaries and Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) whose eyes are fixed on August 9.

At the same time, a similar migration is being replicated in counties where senior officials are to stage a mass exodus. Also expected to head for the exit door are State officers including parastatal chief executive officers and their board members. 

In June, IEBC issued the Election Operations Plan (EOP) which indicated the February 9 resignation date. It is expected that most of those in government jobs will begin tendering their resignations this month to beat the February 9 deadline. A number of CSs have shown interest in governor and senator seats in a move that could leave President Kenyatta with vacant Cabinet slots at a critical time that he is expected to finalise on legacy projects. 

Agriculture CS Peter Munya, John Munyes (Mining and Petroleum), Charles Keter (Energy), Sicily Kariuki (Water and Sanitation), Mutahi Kagwe (Health), Eugene Wamalwa (Devolution) Simon Chelugui (Labour), Ukur Yattani (Treasury) and Tourism’s Najib Balala have shown interest in joining politics.

Other than the CSs, principal secretaries like Water and sanitation’s Eng Joseph Irungu is eyeing Murang’a governor seat, have sought to run in 2022. Most Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) were picked by President Kenyatta after they lost their seats in the 2017 elections and this election offers them another opportunity to run.

Of the over 30 CASs, two-thirds of them are former politicians. Whereas Munya wants to recapture the Meru governor seat he lost to Kiraitu Murungi, Munyes a former Turkana senator lost to governor Josphat Nanok in 2017 and next year the two plan to mount another bid to win over the seat.

Chelugui will be going for the Baringo governor’s seat while Keter eyes Kericho governor position. Mutahi Kagwe has an interest in the Nyeri governor’s seat while Balala has been linked to the Mombasa senate position currently held by Mohamed Faki.