Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin. He confirmed the release of lawyer Beatrice Ng'ethe on Febriary 11, 2024.
The fate of Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohamed Amin now hangs in the balance as he attains the mandatory retirement age of 60 years today.
Amin was born on October 1, 1964 according to personal records held in his police file.
Mr Amin was sworn into office on October 19, 2022. He was 58 at the time.
It remains unclear if Amin, who has been heading the DCI for the last two years, will be leaving office as dictated by the Public Service regulations.
Amin did not respond to Nation's inquiries about the issue.
Head of Public Service, Felix Koskei, on September 8, issued a statement stating that no public servant would be allowed to continue serving after the age of 60.
No tenure extension
In the circular, Koskei said there will be no extension of service for State officials, beyond the stipulated retirement age.
Koskei said any such extensions of contracts would contravene established regulations.
This directive was issued at a time when over 43,000 public officers were projected to retire by end of August 2024.
On July 5, President William Ruto, while addressing some of the issues raised during the anti-government protests, said no public servant would be allowed to stay in office after attaining the age of 60.
At the time of issuing this directive, it was unclear if some of the top officials appointed by the President were to leave office having attained the retirement age.
Mr Koskei, who issued this circular, has since attained the retirement age.
Yesterday, the Nation sought a comment from the DCI boss on whether he would be leaving office. He was yet to respond to calls and text messages to his phone by the time of going to press.
The Nation also sought a comment from National Police Service Commission boss Eliud Kinuthia on the way forward and he too did not respond to call and messages to his WhatsApp.
On July 27, Employment and Labour Relations Court Kidhe Anna Ngibuini Mwaure, suspended the July 6 directive by the President requiring public servants to retire at 60 years.
The court issued the directive following a petition filed by Caroline Wambui Mwangi.
In his address on July 5, 2024, President Ruto announced a raft of austerity measures and other State interventions aimed at aligning the government expenditures with the budgetary implications following the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, 2024.
Among the measures announced by the President was that public servants who attain the retirement age of 60 years shall be required to immediately proceed on retirement, with no extensions to their tenure of service.
But the court barred the attorney-general or any other person acting under his directive from implementing or enforcing the Presidential directive.
The judge directed Mwangi’s lawyer Robinson Maina to serve the petition on the attorney-general, Public Service Commission and the Judicial Service Commission with the court documents.
Maina in court documents pointed out that the Head of Public Service Felix Koskei had published a Presidential Directive on July 8, 2024 reiterating the mandatory retirement age for public officers serving on permanent and pensionable terms.
He said the directive disregards the existence of multiple employment contracts by persons outside the prescribed age bracket.
Breach of contract
Unless stopped, he said the directive will expose taxpayers to severe financial setbacks accruing from awards for damages occasioned by breach of contract.
There are also reports that Amin and then Deputy Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja have been given a two-year contract in July this year.
According to media reports, the two police chiefs were given their letters of extension by National Police Service Commission (NPSC) Chairman Eliud Kinuthia last Monday.
The decision to extend the tenure of the two police chiefs came despite a clear policy guideline by the Public Service Commission that no public servant will get a contract after retirement.
The two police chiefs were to continue serving until April 2025 when their contracts would come to an end.
In February last year, then Public Service Cabinet Secretary Aisha Jumwa in a letter said all civil servants must leave office when they attain the retirement age of 60 and no officer would be allowed to continue serving on contract.
"It has come to the attention of the ministry responsible for public service that public officers who have attained the mandatory age as provided under the Public Service Act and are making numerous appeals to the commission for unjustified extension," read Jumwa's letter to the PSC.
"The purpose of this letter is to request that all extensions review cases be suspended and any existing cases be revoked to enable proper legislation and succession management guidelines be implemented across the public service," said the CS.
Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria, who succeeded Jumwa in October last year, had maintained that no public servant would be allowed to continue serving on contract after attaining retirement age.
"When a public servant attains the age of 60, please go home. When some turn 58, they claim to have some disabilities so more time can be added to them. No Way! I have caught up with them," the CS said when he visited the NYS headquarters in Ruaraka, Nairobi.
