Governors: workforce bloated by 20000 hence layoffs

Public Service chairperson Margaret Kobia during the interview in her office at Public Service building. ON 28/10/14 PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE

NAIROBI, KENYA: Governors have defended staff layoffs in the counties, citing a 2015 audit that recommended that 39,000 employees should be retired from the civil service.

Council of Governors (CoG) Chairman Josphat Nanok says the bloated workforce will be financially untenable in the long run, arguing the situation was compounded by outgoing governors who put officers such as county secretaries on permanent and pensionable terms.

Mr Nanok argues that awarding State and/or public officers, whose terms are defined in law, contracts that are beyond their defined terms, complicated the situation, given that the human resource audit report had recommended the laying off of 38,858 workers.

The numbers affected were about equal between the national and county governments, according to the Capacity Assessment and Rationalisation of the Public Service Programme (CARPs) audit report.

Staffing levels

The survey, carried out through biometric registration, showed that the total number of public servants registered at both levels of government are 199,921. Of this figure, 72,923 (36 per cent) are in the national government while 126,998 (64 per cent) are in county governments. 

Some 70,416 officers were from the devolved ministries, accounting for 70 per cent of the counties’ workforce, while the defunct local authorities contributed 32,237 (30 per cent).

The report by the Inter-governmental Steering Committee chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2015 made a raft of recommendations.

Some of the findings were also captured in the Transition Authority’s 2016 end term report before the authority ceased to exist.

“In aggregate, implementation of the recommended optimal staffing levels would entail an overall staff reduction of 38,858,” said the CARPs report.

It added: “Coincidentally, the numbers affected would be about equal between national and county government.”

“The report was not implemented in full because some of its recommendations have since been overtaken by events. For instance, some of the employees were to retire in three years’ time, a process which is going on,” explained Margaret Kobia, the chairperson of the Public Service Commission.

Prof Kobia, however, admitted that those recommended for retirement are leaving the civil service gradually.

“As you are aware, we are recruiting in a number of departments where staff have left due to retirement. You must have witnessed a few advertisements in the local media over the same. This is part of the process to ensure services are not interrupted.”

The Inter-Governmental Steering Committee had directed ministries/departments and county governments to review their staffing numbers in line with the criteria set by a consultant.

30 per cent

According to the report, although the response rate was low, it was observed that some of the ministries/departments and county governments revised their proposed numbers upwards.

The majority of staff who the report recommended be laid off fall in administrative and support services.

“Both in post and proposed numbers include high proportions of administrative/office and support services which by far exceeds numbers from the application of a generally accepted staffing norm - that the latter category of personnel should not exceed 30 per cent of total technical/professional personnel in efficient modern organisation,” said the report.

While some counties, including Kakamega, Nairobi, and Mombasa, have maintained their staffing levels based on the report, others such as Busia, Tharaka Nithi, Machakos, Kisumu, and Meru insist the workforce must be trimmed based on the CARPs report.

In a statement, Nanok promised that all the nascent transitional staff challenges facing the 47 counties would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

“As you are aware, recently there have been massive lay-offs in the counties. There are instances where new governors are faced with a bloated workforce, and this will be financially untenable in the long run,” said Nanok.

He said there have been emerging human resource issues that the new governors find themselves confronting, including instances where State officers and/or public officers whose term is defined in law received contracts that were beyond their defined term. “To illustrate, there are cases where county secretaries were put on permanent and pensionable terms,” said Nanok. In certain counties, there were public officers who initially were recruited on contractual basis but just before the elections, they were quickly placed on permanent and pensionable terms.

 “The governors are not acting in malice. They are only keen on ensuring that county governments recruit and retain competent and skilled staff for effective service delivery,” he explained.

According to the CARPs report, 24 counties proposed staffing levels which were in excess of 100 per cent. Only four counties - Nyeri, Narok, Busia, and Nairobi - proposed lower staffing levels.

“Nairobi County had the highest number of staff from the defunct local authorities at 10,915, which was just above a third of all the staff from the defunct local authorities, while Lamu had the least staff at 44,” said Kinuthia Wamwangi, former Transition Authority chairman in The End Term-Report 2012-2016.

Sh1 billion

City Hall has set aside a Sh1 billion to retire 70 per cent of its ageing workforce through early retirement.

The early retirement package targets over 14,000 county workers who have attained 55 years.

So far about 1,000 employees have agreed to voluntarily retire on condition that they are adequately compensated.

According to the CARPS report Busia, whose governor threatened to sack workers, was one of the counties that inherited a large workforce from the defunct local government authorities.

Out of 2,145 staff, 1,659 were transferred from devolved ministries while 486 were from the defunct local authorities.

“We inherited staff from local authorities, some of them with no skills. The audit recommended their removal. These are the ones we are insisting must go,” said Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong.

“Out of the 2,000 staff we found in the county, only four were graduates.”

Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki started executing his mandate on his first day in office by suspending 1,000 county workers.