More than 26,000 public servants in the country have only attained primary school education, which places them at risk of being retrenched by the Government in an attempt to reduce the wage bill.
A report by the Inter-governmental Steering Committee for Capacity Assessment and Rationalisation of the Public Service (CARPS) stated that there was a shortage of persons with technical and professional skills especially in priority job categories.
The committee recommended that workers with dismal academic skills be retrenched and pave way for skilled personnel.
The health and engineering sectors faced the largest deficits of professional workers across the country.
Currently, the health field in the country has a shortfall of over 180,000 medics, while the engineering field lacks over 500,000 professional personnel.
The possible retrenchment of workers has sparked a row between the National and County Governments after it emerged that the two had differing goals.
The National Government proposed the retrenchment of 40,000 workers from both governments in order to reduce the wage bill from the current Sh550 Billion.
On the other hand, the County Government has been planning to recruit more than 300,000 new employees in order to sufficiently deliver to the counties.
Kisii Governor James Ongwae however, told the public that the report was in its early stages and was yet to be approved by the Council of Governors and the summit.
The country has been having a tug of war between the County Governments and the National Government since devolution with conflicting interests emerging between the two especially when it comes to employee affairs. The health sector is currently at the centre of this war as several workers unrests are experienced in different counties while the two levels of government trade accusations.
