Since the beginning of this year, the government has sent mixed signals on the mandatory retirement age of civil servants of 60 as Kenya is grappling with high unemployment among young people.
At the height of recent countrywide protests by Gen Z, none other than President William Ruto himself directed about 30, 000 government workers who had hit 60 to immediately exit the civil service.
The President’s directive, perhaps meant to appease the restless youth at the time, was made after numerous complaints from the Public Service Commission over the apparent crisis of an ageing civil service workforce as it also called for deliberate steps to be taken to hire and train younger people.
The Public Service Act requires that public officers retire on the date they reach the mandatory retirement age, and that the PSC or other appointing authority shall not extend the service of such person.
In November 2020, the PSC issued a circular ending the practice of approving service extensions for people aged 60 and over. The commission cited the need for deliberate interventions to bring on board younger public servants.
Soon after President Ruto’s pronouncement in July, Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei followed it up with a memo directing all State agencies to immediately implement the directive.
The contracts of individuals over age 60 who had been retained in the service were also to be revoked immediately.
But, alas, the President’s pronouncement just ended at that – joining the long list of Kenya Kwanza’s phantom projects.
Influential government officials who had reached retirement age continued serving in their positions once the Gen Z protests had subsided.
The President went on to nominate to top jobs or retain people who had surpassed 60, sending clear signals that the law only applied to the hoi polloi without connections in high places.
These actions only serve to diminish the employment hopes of millions of jobless graduates and to signal that the government is less interested in creating space for younger officers.
Here is a government that purports to be interested in creating jobs for the millions of unemployed young graduates while also reluctant to let go hundreds of retirement-age employees for political reasons.
While the government argues that some of the officers are retained because the public service needs their institutional memory and rare skills, a scheme is needed to pass on those special skills to the next generation. Kenya needs a uniform retirement policy.