43,976 public servants to retire in 5 years – Mwaura

Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has said over 43,000 people are expected to retire in the next five years.

Addressing the nation on Thursday, he said the arising opportunities will be prioritised for the youth.

He said that this year alone, there will be over seven thousand job vacancies for young people.

"Kwa ujumla watu ambao wataweza kustaafu kwa miaka mitano inayokuja ni watu zaidi ya watu 43,976," he said.

This is loosely translated to, "In total, the number of people who will be retiring in the next five years will be over 43, 976 people."

He said this is the number of those who are under permanent pensionable and those who are under contracts, bringing the number of job vacancies to around 46,000.

President William 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 would 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.

According to the numbers, Public Universities will be the worst hit as they have 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, the 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.