Thousands to be fired in public service retrenchment

Thousands of civil servants will lose their jobs from February as the government starts slashing the sky-rocketing public sector wage bill.

Nearly 39,000 employees — about half in the national government, half in the counties — will be retrenched, according to a staff audit report commissioned two years ago.

Kenya has about 700,000 employees in the public sector, including 199,921 civil servants in the national and county governments.

Firing was deferred until after the elections to avoid a voters' backlash against President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Jubilee Party.

The government finally decided to bite the bullet and Uhuru is understood to have instructed the Department of Public Service to implement the downsizing report.

The Star