Shock of staff who don't want to retire, take leave

City Hall Nairobi. [File, Standard]

Despite a requirement by the State that public servants ought to clear annual leave, it has emerged that about 6000 employees of Nairobi city county have never gone on leave for more than five years.

More worrying is that several county workers have clocked the retirement age of 60 but are not willing to proceed on terminal leave.

This was revealed by Nairobi County Assembly Majority Leader Peter Imwatok who is preparing a motion to ensure that such eployees comply with the law.

Imwatok said that the employees are drawn from the Assembly and the Executive.

“They own offices, and the worst affected is the Nairobi Water & Sewarage Company Limited, in fact some have accumulated 290 leave days, which is totally unacceptable,” he said.

Interestingly, the Assembly Majority Leader said that some of the employees are about to clock 60 years but are seeking an extension while others have refused to proceed on annual leave.

“Instead of you continuing earning allowances while working, go and finish your leave days. Then come back and work within the framework of the Public Service Commission.
“And those who have reached 60 years, we still insist. Everyone, must work within their time and those who are due for retirement are supposed to go on terminal leave. They should proceed on terminal leave," said Imwatok.

The Majority Leader said it was worrying that some senior managers are seeking to extend their stay in office.

“The law requires if someone is almost retiring he is supposed to be given a notice within 60 days. If you have to go on terminal leave, you should be notified that your terminal leave commences on this date,” he said.

Failure by employees to go on leave is said to be adding more expense on the exchequer. In turn, this contributes to delayed payment of salaries of county staff who recently threatened to go on strike over the matter.

A section of the workers alleged forced retirement, harassment, and intimidation by senior staff.

Kenya County Government Workers Union in Nairobi expressed disappointment over the salary delays by the Governor Johnson Sakaja-led administration, saying this was a violation of the law.

In August, the Controller of Budget raised concern over the wage bill at the county after a report indicated that out of Sh31 billion approved, about Sh18 billion was going to salaries.