Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and Gender, Aisha Jumwa, says public servants who have attained the mandatory retirement age should not be in office.
The CS noted that since assuming office, she has observed that there are many workers in public sector offices who have attained the age of 60.
According to the PSC Act, 2017, the mandatory retirement age in public service is sixty years and sixty-five years for persons with disability.
“I noticed that there are older people who have attained the mandatory retirement age but you find that they go to maybe the PSC and they get contracts. They have already retired and instead of going home they are offered contracts for two more years, one year, and so on,” said CS Jumwa.
CS Jumwa said she has since asked the Public Service Commission to document all retirees serving on contacts despite having attained the age of 60 with a view to sending them home.
The CS was speaking during an interview with Citizen TV on Thursday. She said the move is aimed at creating job opportunities for fresh graduates.
“I wrote a letter to the PSC and told them that we have a law and if someone has attained the required age to retire aende akiendanga so that we give younger people opportunities,” she said.
“We have also said in this in the Kenya Kwanza manifesto that we will create job opportunities for young people in the nation.”
The CS said once her directive is implemented, it will pave the way for a “seamless transition for university students into the working sector”.
“What will happen to university graduates who are looking for jobs? I have been visited by many of them, yet there are offices they qualify to occupy but the positions are held with people who ought to have retired,” she said.
“That is why you look at some of these government positions and you ask yourself why is this person still here?”
