According to a report by Business Daily on Tuesday, March 17, the Public Service Commission (PSC) announced that the state would consider work experience and individual competence in promoting government staff.
For a while now, the state majorly observed postgraduate qualifications as a determinant when awarding its staff new positions.
“In view of the transitional arrangement, the commission has suspended the requirements of the strategic leadership development programme and master’s degree as parameters for promotion of public officers to a senior position,” the paper quoted PSC chairperson Stephen Kirogo.
Public Service Commission chairman Stephen Kirogo at Pride Inn Paradise Resort in Shanzu, Mombasa County, on May 22, 2019.
Kirogo, however, pointed out that certain positions, such as directors, would require their holders to possess masters degrees, clarifying that it would not be the sole determinant.
The wage bill in Kenya consumes more than half of all the tax collected yet the government officeholders accounts for less than two per cent of all the country’s population.
The employees stand at 842, 000, a figure that gobbles up Ksh620 billion in salaries and allowances every year.
A select section of top civil servants is pocketing as much as managers in the private sectors with a compounded income of over Ksh1 million.
The wage bill stands at 42 per cent which is above the world average of 35 per cent.
“The commission has noted that some of the requirements for promotion may not be facilitating the acquisition of the envisioned skill, competencies and attributes required at the higher level,” continued Kirogo.
Data provided by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) pegs students pursuing masters in Kenya at 43,988 in the year ending in June 2019, an increase from the previous year’s 32,977.
The entrance to Kenya Public Service Commission Offices in Kenya.