CS Kuria To Force All Civil Servants To Retire By Age 60

Kuria indicated that some civil servants while being two years away from retirement age fake disabilities to buy them more time within their positions.

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Oct 25, 2023 - 12:37 Updated: Oct 25, 2023 - 13:10
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CS Kuria To Force All Civil Servants To Retire By Age 60
Public Service CS Moses Kuria greeting an NYS officer at the offices in Ruaraka, Nairobi County. /MOSES KURIA

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has asserted that all Kenyans working in civil service must retire by the age of 60 years.

Speaking during the unveiling of the National Youth Service (NYS) Re-engineering programme at the NYS headquarters in Ruaraka, Nairobi County, Kuria indicated that some civil servants while being two years away from retirement age fake disabilities to buy them more time within their positions.

He revealed that he was awaiting a report on those taking advantage of the government's goodwill, reiterating President William Ruto's call to have civil servants proceed to retirement by age 60.

"When one reaches the age of sixty, please go home, there are others who, when they reach fifty-eight, remember they have disabilities and hence extend their time.

Moses Kuria inspecting a guard of honour at the NYS Headquarters on October 25, 2023. /MOSES KURIA

“I am waiting for a report of those people who are misusing our generosity, the President has said it very clearly that when one reaches the age of sixty, they should go home and stop looking for other reasons,” he announced.

As he stated during the unveiling of his 10-point agenda on Saturday, October 21, this is part of the State's aim to modernise public service by replacing older public servants with young Kenyans, maintaining an 80:20 ratio between technical staff and support staff.

Furthermore, the CS proposed that all new government recruits undergo mandatory training via the NYS which will allow the government to track its employees.

During the event, Kuria also revealed that in his new role as Public Service Cabinet Secretary, he would work toward making the NYS more efficient with regard to service delivery.

“My dream is to have recruits to go through NYS before being employed by the government so that these people who are going to be in the Ministry of Labour, Water or even Land we make sure we can trace them back,” said Kuria.

“I want to ensure that I push this policy and I am going to present a cabinet memo for Cabinet to approve that any new hiring in the public service people to come with NYS certificates."

He added that this would also cover the recruitment across disciplined forces including the National Police Service (NPS) and Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) among others in efforts to improve public service work ethic and provide opportunities for the millions of unemployed youth.

"We have agreed with the Inspector General of Police that the next intake of 3,000 officers will be recruited from NYS. We have also talked with Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and 1,500 recruits will be from NYS," he stated.

Kuria also promised to unveil a call centre which will deal with complaints from Kenyans regarding service delivery by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure the MDAs deliver on their mandate.

He indicated that the call centre will be made available to motorists which will give them the power to report officers who collect bribes along roads.

According to the CS, the call centre will also handle complaints from Kenyans regarding electricity connection with Kenya Power. It will be domiciled at the NYS headquarters and will be operated by officers from the paramilitary unit.

"I am going to have a big office and call centre to analyse those complaints and it will be here at NYS. I will come here every morning to see where there are complaints. The servicemen will monitor it," he stated.

"I am going to give Kenyans a chance to say what they think of us."

However, he did not reveal when the call centre will be opened and begin its operations.

Moses Kuria inspecting a guard of honour at the NYS Headquarters on October 25, 2023. /MOSES KURIA

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