Public Servants Now To Be Employed On A Three-year Contract

Entry level public servants now will be employed on a three-year contract, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has said.

The move, according to PSC, is aimed at reducing the ballooning public wage bill, at the same time lifting the quality of services in public offices.

The contract will be renewed upon satisfactory performance for all fresh university graduates and diploma holders joining the service.

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Currently, only senior civil servants in the rank of directors (Job group S) are employed on contractual basis.

According to PSC chairman Stephen Kirogo, the policy which commences on July 1 will not affect teachers, policemen and the military which do not fall under the category of civil servants.

“It will help shrink that expanding public wage bill. It will also allow people to move away freely without being limited, while the Public Service Commission will also be able to bring in new skill at whatever level of employment,” said Kirogo.

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The current wage bill hit Ksh790 billion in the 2018/2019 financial year, from Ksh733 billion in the financial year ended June 2018.

In 2013, the public wage bill stood at Ksh465 billion, and has rose to Ksh790 billion despite a freeze in recruitment of workers expect for the education and health sector.

Workforce in the public service are estimated at 842,900, with only 66,000 in the health and education sectors.

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“What we need is a public service that is productive, able to drive national economic growth and when that happens, we create more employment out there,” added Kirogo.

SRC wants to cut the public wage bill ratio to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the current 8.29 percent to seven. Initially, the ratio stood at 11.5 percent.

Of the Ksh1.31 trillion tax revenue, 55 percent was gobbled up by the public wage bill.

“We have done a study which shows that you (entry-level employees) barely want to be in one job for two years and we have to move with the trend,”  concluded Kirogo.

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