The number of civil servants on permanent and pensionable terms has dropped nearly 9,000 in the first two years of President William Ruto’s administration, signalling accelerated exits from ministries on ageing staff and natural attrition.
The State Department for Public Service has disclosed the falling staff count in civil service. It reports that workers covered by medical insurance schemes fell to 133,980 employees by the end of June 2024, compared with 142,885 in June 2022 and 139,142 in June 2023.
“The reduction of civil servants being covered is due to exits including retirement,” wrote the State Department for Public Service in the latest budget report.
The exit of 8,905 permanent and pensionable employees from largely State ministries in two years came as the government more than doubled recruitment of graduate interns, who usually serve on a year contract with a monthly stipend of Sh25,000.
The government has since December 2013 had a moratorium on new employment in civil service, sparing hiring in essential sectors such as security, education, and health in a bid to rein in the public wage bill.
State ministries and departments have largely been hiring to replace workers who have exited through retirement, resignation, and dismissals, except for new offices such as that of Prime Cabinet Secretary, which the Ruto administration created.
The situation has been exacerbated by the suspension of new hiring in the public sector this fiscal year ending June to pave the way for planned “audit and cleanse all public payrolls, pension and transfers to the vulnerable with a view to eliminate ghost workers as well as enforce payment of salary scales as approved or recommended by the SRC (Salaries and Remuneration Commission)”.
“Exits from service occur in numerous ways, including separation through death, retirement, dismissal, or resignations. We are alive to this reality, and that is why every year, we recruit many young graduates at entry level into the public service across various disciplines,” said Anthony Muchiri, the Public Service Commission chairperson, told the Business Daily.
“We also promote officers to higher level positions to mitigate the challenge of succession management gaps across cadres whenever vacancies are declared to us by ministries and state departments.”
PSC data shows the government accelerated recruitment of interns last financial year ended June 2024, with a record 9,100 graduates placed in various ministries, departments, and agencies on one-year contracts.
That represented a jump of 133.21 percent over 3,902 interns in the year ended June 2023 and even higher than 3,700 in the one that ended June 2022.
The Public Service Internship Programme aimed to expose interns to the workplace for one year. However, the government lacks a policy to either absorb them on permanent and pensionable terms or extend their contracts.
PSC reiterated that entry-level employment in civil service was on permanent and pensionable terms except under unusual circumstances.
“Regarding employment of civil servants on contract terms as opposed to permanent and pensionable) terms, be informed that employment in the civil service for entry-level jobs is on a PnP basis, and the terms currently remain the same,” said Mr Muchiri.
“However, there are certain supernumerary positions that are based on contract, for instance, employment to meet a certain emergent need such as when we had Covid-19 pandemic and there was a need for more vigilance at our country’s entry points.”
Some 1,435 candidates were recruited into the civil service in the year ending June 2024, according to the PSC. They comprised 759 female employees, 676 male and 51 persons with disabilities (PWDs).
A further 602 employees were promoted, comprising 371 male, 231 (female) and 13 PWDs.
