The recruitment ban at entry level cadres in the civil service that was put in place by the Treasury has not only affected management succession but also created a backlog of unemployed youth who are graduating from colleges every year.
The suspension of recruitment has affected service delivery across government agencies. The Public Service Commission proposal to hire new civil servants and promote some in the next financial year is a step in the right direction. Treasury should lift the moratorium so that government and its agencies can create jobs and deliver services.
There are many civil servants who, for long, have stagnated in one job group for years. They could not be promoted because there is no budget. PSC is unable to retire some senior civil servants because of the skills they have and allowing them to leave without a replacement is a risk that should not be considered.
Therefore Parliament should proceed and allocate sufficient financial resources to this docket if indeed the MPs mean well to the millions of unemployed youth in Kenya.
However, if Parliament approves the PSC budget proposals, the same MPs should make sure that the recruitment process is transparent. It is not uncommon for nepotism to rare its ugly head in this type of situations.
We all know that the recruitment process in government is never transparent and largely depends on whom you know and not what you know. We want to see recruitment on merit and which adheres to PCS policies. This is the time to keep in mind affirmative action that ensures candidates from every corner of Kenya is gets a chance to serve his or her country.
The government should stop recycling employees in the public service, once somebody has reached retirement age, they should proceed on retirement so that the youth are given a chance to bring on board fresh ideas that can propel this country to greater heights.
Why should we have civil servants who after attaining the retirement age of 60 are appointed to plum government jobs only weeks later? If indeed the government is genuine in resolving youth unemployment, which we all agree, is a time bomb, why not give these positions to the youth?
In fact, all the Chief Administrative Secretaries positions that were created by the Jubilee government through PSC should have all be handed to the youth as part of mentorship so they can gain experience on how to run a government.
It is unfortunate they all went to politicians who have had their chance in public service.
The former Bomet county senatorial aspirant spoke to the Star
