A Bill sponsored by Kiambu Woman Representative Gathoni Wamuchomba has proposed the hiring of retired government workers into key sectors such as health, security and education.
According to the lawmaker, this will improve the welfare of senior members of the society by ensuring their rights to human dignity, safety, security, education, health, equality and non-discrimination are fulfilled.
The Wamuchomba Bill seeks to give retired Civil servants a second chance to work on a post-retirement employment programme.
“The principal object of this Bill is to give effect to Article 57 of the Constitution by establishing a legal framework for the treatment of older members of society,” Wamuchomba stated.
If the Bill is enacted into law, people who attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 years will be handed a lifeline to earn a monthly salary for the duration of the new employment terms.
The Bill seeks to pave way for the hiring of retirees on scaled hours to work in any other area as may be determined by the Public Service Cabinet Secretary.
“The Cabinet Secretary (Public Service) shall in consultation with the National Council for Older Members of Society, State agencies and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission make regulation for voluntary or non-voluntary post-retirement employment of older members of society, on scaled hours, in the following critical areas-health, national security, education and any other service areas as may be determined by the Cabinet Secretary,” the Bill read.
The Public Service has been confronting an ageing workforce following a hiring freeze to contain a growing wage bill.
The Bill also puts young people at a disadvantage since there are fewer jobs in the country and data from the 2020 census showed that 5,341,182 or 38.9 per cent of the 13,777,600 young Kenyans are jobless.
Kenya economic growth created jobs, but they are mostly low-paying, informal and they are available at a rate that economists noted was too low to absorb the rapidly growing population.
The youth were the hardest hit by lack of jobs compared to their counterparts who are above 35 years.
This means that more than a third of Kenya’s youth eligible for work have no jobs in a business environment where the government is struggling to tackle the country’s acute unemployment problem.
