Anxiety as five state firms flagged for excess workers

Five state corporations are marked for major restructuring to shed excess workforce and curb wastage of resources.

An audit by the Public Service Commission (PSC) revealed that the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa), Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), Utalii College, Egerton University and Rongo University top the list of state institutions with excess staffing.

The five institutions have a combined excess workforce of 1,726, with Kemsa having the highest at 536 employees, Utalii College (393), AFA (327), Egerton University (210) and Rongo University (137).

“The institutions with staff over-establishment to review and align them to the authorised staff establishment,” the PSC said, pointing to a looming shake-up in the institutions’ workforce.

Overall, the audit established that 15 public institutions breached their maximum staff requirement by a combined 1,997 workers.

The other agencies with substantial excess workforce include the State Department for University Education and Research (73), State Department for Transport (63) Agricultural Finance Corporation (62), State Department for Development of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (32), State Department for Gender (13) and State Department for Tourism (12).

Vacant posts

The PSC audit further shows that the authorised workforce establishment for the 261 public institutions was 347,845, of which 220,782 or 63.5 per cent were filled while 127,063, or 36.5per cent were vacant.

“The vacant posts were occasioned by the recruitment moratorium, re-organisation and restructuring of government institutions, and reviewing of the staff establishment,” PSC said.

Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua last month lifted a five-year hiring freeze in parastatals, offering relief to thousands of jobless Kenyans and unstaffed institutions.

“State corporations with approved human resource instruments will henceforth be exempt from the requirements of the circular of 28th July 2017 and can therefore recruit staff, including replacement of staff in line with the State Corporations Advisory Committee approved staff establishment,” he said in a circular dated February 7.

Despite the lifting of the moratorium, the parastatals must still receive board approval and confirmation in writing from Treasury that they have the budget for the new staff.

State-owned firms keen on hiring are required to get their human resources manuals approved by the State Corporations Advisory Committee, which advises the government on the running of parastatals.

Recruitment moratorium

The 2017 government moratorium on recruitment had restricted new hires to essential services such as security, health, and education.

The freeze led to a 9.1 reduction in workers employed in State-owned firms over the five years from 157,100 to 142,800.

“The recruitment should, however, only be undertaken upon alignment with the approved human resource instruments and possession of written confirmation of requisite budgets for the recruitment and sustainability thereof from the National Treasury (as well as) existence of board resolutions approving the recruitment” Mr Kinyua stated in his circular to principal secretaries, Cabinet secretaries and chief executive officers of parastatals.