• The PSC Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual, 2016, sets civil servants' mandatory retirement age at 60 years.
•Persons with disabilities are allowed an extra five years hence expected to exit once they are 65 years old.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto’s order for the exit of civil servants aged above 60 years could claim 30,000 government workers.
Ruto on July 5 directed public servants aged 60 and above to proceed to retirement.
In measures to cut costs of running government, he said there will be no extension of tenures for the civil servants.
"They are directed to do this with no extensions to their tenure of service," Ruto said.
Public Service Commission data shows that there are more than 4,500 civil servants aged 60 and above as of December 2023.
Another 25,879, from the reporting 520 agencies, were aged between 56 and 60 years, all of whom will hit retirement age in the next three years.
The PSC Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual, 2016, sets civil servants' mandatory retirement age at 60.
Persons with disabilities are allowed an extra five years and are expected to exit once they are 65 years old.
Public Universities are likely to be the worst hit should the order be carried as it has the highest number of workers who are more than 60 years old.
As of December 2023, the institutions of higher learning had at least 2,573 staffers aged above 60 years. Those aged between 56-60 years were 3,362.
State corporations, PSC data shows, had the second highest number at 1,081. Those turning 60 within the next three years were 10,889.
At least 775 workers would be exited from ministries and state departments while another 10,407 will leave by the end of the next three years.
Constitutional commissions will have to release 23 members of its workforce while 348 others will have to leave in the next three years.
Tvets had 91 civil servants aged 60 and above and four at statutory commissions.
The representation of officers above 60 years was 1.8 per cent, which increased from the 1.3 per cent reported in the financial year 2021-22.
Overall, those in the, or approaching the retirement bracket accounted for 12 per cent of the 253,318 officers in public service at that time.
PSC has decried the crisis of an ageing civil service workforce and wants deliberate steps taken to hire and develop younger people.
“The public service therefore needs to undertake deliberate interventions to develop the younger public servants to take up responsibilities as they are released by the older generation,” the commission said.
PSC, in a human resource master plan for the public service covering the next 10 years, warns that the divide may not be easy to close, citing challenges of retaining younger employees.
“There is a moderate challenge in retention of employees under Gen Z who usually join the service at the entry-level,” the Antony Muchiri-led commission said.
It said the mass exits could be attributed to low remuneration and unfavourable conditions of service.
“This is especially in view of global embracement of flexi-work arrangements and technology and lack of clarity in career advancement,” PSC said.
While this persists, it has since emerged that government agencies hiring youthful workers never get to find out why they are leaving.
“Exit interviews are not usually conducted to determine the actual reasons for exit (other than natural attrition) to inform policy on retention,” the commission said.
Reviews of several agencies by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu have red-flagged state agencies with staff in their service yet have attain 60 years.
Audit reviews for the financial year ending June 30, 2023, established that the State Department of Gender had 96 employees, accounting for 46 per cent, who were more than 50 years old.
The National Cereals and Produce Board had 24 of 32 staff in senior management aged 50 and above.
Bandari Maritime Academy was also called out for hiring an acting chief executive officer who was above 60 years old.
At the time of the review, four employees at the Environment Department had attained the mandatory retirement age but were still on payroll.
“The employees were serving under local agreement terms of contract for periods ranging from one to three years,” the auditor reported.
On February 16 last year, the Ministry of Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action suspended and revoked all extension services and requests.
The Technical University of Kenya retained 24 non-academic staff despite the lot hitting 60. Two academic staff were aged 70 years.
Public Service Commission also had on its payroll, five employees who had attained the age of retirement and were not people living with disability.
While the commission explained that the employees were onboard due to their rare knowledge, skills and competencies, there was no evidence to support the explanation.
With the National Treasury recently emphasising the hiring freeze [which has been in force for a while], it remains to be seen how the ageing civil service crisis would be addressed.
MDAs and other state agencies hiring will have to seek the approval of the Treasury [availability of funds], even when filling vacancies.
The problem, deeply entrenched across the public service, has been compounded by the fact that some elements are not ready to quit the posts. Some cheat their way out.