- MPs now plan to cut the retirement age from 60 and revert it to the previous 55.
- This is not the cure to Kenya's unemployment problem and ballooning wage bill.
Kenya's public service still offers the best job security among local employers with its 'permanent and pensionable' employment model.
Once you secure a job, short of any disciplinary issue, you can enjoy a salary until retirement at 60 years even if you are a joyrider. After this, you continue riding on the back of taxpayers through pensions.
MPs now plan to cut the retirement age from 60 and revert it to the previous 55.
The National Assembly's Labour committee plans to further amend the Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023 to reduce the retirement age, arguably to create room for the increasing number of unemployed youth.
This is not the cure to Kenya's unemployment problem and ballooning wage bill.
The best approach to public service employment is to put all employees apart from lower cadre staff on three-year renewable contracts based on performance.
Clear targets should be set and proper appraisals done bi-annually to ascertain if those on the payroll have met their targets. Anything short of this, and the contracts need not be renewed at the end of their terms.
This will help weed out joyriders and create room to bring in fresh blood. It will also ease the government's pension burden as employees will only be paid gratuity at the end of their contract.
Any employer's core concern in these difficult times should be performance and not primarily age.
Quote of the Day: "Everything must justify its existence before the judgment seat of Reason, or give up existence."
Friedrich Engels
German social philosopher and revolutionary socialist who co-authored "The Communist Manifesto" with Karl Marx, died on August 5, 1895