A parliamentary committee is considering reducing the mandatory retirement age from the current 60 years to 55 to give young people an opportunity to be employed in public service in Kenya.
While debating the Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the National Assembly’s Labour Committee announced on Thursday, August 3, that it will introduce an amendment to the proposed legislation capping the retirement age at 55.
The Bill, introduced by Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru, seeks to amend the current Act by requiring no officer to serve in an acting capacity for more than six months.
If the committee is to serve the interests of the youth, Kangundo MP Fabian Muli believes it should propose additional amendments to the Bill to lower the retirement age.
“We need to think further and lower the age to 55 to make the youth of this country proud,” Muli said.
He stated that if the committee failed to include the age reduction amendment, he would propose it as an individual.
Ken Chonga, MP for Kilifi South, stated that the committee must amend the necessary legal provisions regarding retirement age.
“We need to get to know how the 60 years retirement age was arrived at so that we can amend those provisions,” Chonga said.
Lunga MP Mangale Munga, while supporting the reduction of the retirement age, said there is a need to cater to the growth of young people.
“Why 60 years? It should be made 55 years old so as to make space for young people. That is a proposal, it might be popular or unpopular, but that is what I think,” Munga said.
“I have given the committee leeway to amend the Bill, but we must not lose the meaning and intention,” Gathiru said.
If the proposals are approved, the majority of civil servants expected to retire in the next five years will be able to leave earlier, which will have far-reaching consequences, including burdening a government already struggling with finances with a higher pension bill.
As the government struggled to deal with a growing pension bill, the mandatory retirement age was raised from 55 to 60 years in 2009.
In the six months to December 2021, the National Treasury paid out Sh69.22 billion in pension and gratuity payments.
An audit conducted in 2016 revealed that 35% of national government employees were between the ages of 51 and 60.
A total of 3,958 officers left the service in 47 ministries, departments, and agencies, according to the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) annual report for the Financial Year 2021/2022.
A person may be appointed in an acting capacity for a period of at least 30 days but no longer than six months, according to the Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
The proposed legislation states that an individual can only be appointed to hold a public office in an acting capacity after they have fulfilled all requirements for that specific officer.
“An acting appointment shall be in favour of a public officer who is duly qualified and competent to perform the duty and not undermine the expeditious appointment or deployment of a competent person to the public office concerned,” reads the Bill
If one is appointed in an acting capacity without the requisite qualifications, such appointment will be revoked by the Public Service in Kenya.
