What the Public Service Commission intends to do is to avoid the payment of pensions.
They claim pension payments are taking a huge chunk of government revenue. The PSC believes that it is not important for civil servants to have a pension in retirement.
But as a union, we cannot allow PSC to hire workers on contract. First, any person in this country wants to have a predictable and certain future, where you know that I will be working for this institution for a certain period, you have what we call social security.
You are assured that if you work for the government, then you have a permanent and pensionable job and even in old age, you will be drawing some pension which will help you in running your life in old age when you don’t have the energy to work.
We want to ensure job security is guaranteed so that when workers retire, at the very least, they have a pension. Government workers must have permanent and pensionable jobs. That is our position.
Secondly, when borrowing loans, financial institutions do not offer long term credit to workers who are on short term contracts.
So, allowing PSC to hire on contract, will disadvantage workers completely such that they cannot even borrow for personal growth and even to educate their children and dependants.
We believe the new policy direction amounts to a witch-hunt in the public service. The PSC is trying to tell Kenyans that public servants are the major reason why the country is not developing because lots of government money is spent on their perks.
Hiring an employee for three years, then renewing for another stretch of three years, and eventually terminating the contract is just a way of avoiding paying pension. They have not provided any data or research on productivity. Workers are more dedicated when they are sure about their future.
The government doesn’t want to invest in its workforce. That is why they just want to use the blood and sweat of the workers and the dump them when they find it convenient.
We are opposed to PSC’s proposal by all means. If they proceed that way, then we are going to move to court.
What kind of government wants to hire staff on contract? Even the private sector which is motivated by profit is hiring staff on permanent and pensionable basis.
The Kenya County Government Union, Nairobi branch secretary, spoke to the star
