Move to transfer recruitment to ministries opposed

Cotu secretary general Mr Francis Atwoli Sunday opposed a new employment policy set to come into force that will see Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries have more powers in the hiring and dismissal of public servants.

Mr Atwoli said the new system would allow cabinet secretaries to appoint and dismiss those they wish, saying it was against international labour standards.

“It is unfair to allow cabinet secretaries to appoint and dismiss those they wish. This is against international norms and we oppose it,” he said.

Mr Atwoli accused the government of resorting to unfair labour practices that are meant to silence workers from demanding their rights.

“They have removed employment from public service commission and placed it on Cabinet Secretaries. These are unfair labour practices aimed at putting the workers in a disadvantaged position,” said Mr Atwoli.

He said it is wrong for the government to empower Cabinet Secretaries to be in-charge of recruitment of personnel working under their ministries and the execution of key decisions that can be better undertaken by independent bodies.

Those conversant with the new policy say if implemented, it will remove powers to recruit, promote, train, discipline, dismiss and reward of civil servants from centralized agencies like Public Service Commission, Treasury and the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) to individual ministries.

Those opposed to the Policy on Decentralisation of Human Resource Management in the Civil Service that was officially launched in May say key stakeholders were not involved in its development as demanded by the law.

They say if CS and PS are going to be allowed to manage human resource services in ministries it would result in abuses and promote tribalism and nepotism in hiring of public officers.

Currently the government employs public servants through an agency system where some cadres of government employees are posted centrally to ministries but supervised by ministries where they are posted to.

The unionists also cited delays in the appointment of Teachers Service Commission (TSC) commissioners and supremacy wrangles over the mandate of the National Land Commission (NLC) and the ministry of lands.

However, Public Service Commission (PSC) CEO Ms Alice Otwala has defended the new system saying safeguards have been put in place to fight tribalism and nepotism when hiring of public servants is placed under cabinet secretaries.

Additionally, only those in job group A to G would be hired by ministers and senior officers by the PSC, and even then the commission would play an oversight role in ensuring the process was not abused.

The main plank of the new system would be creating efficiency, curb haphazard transfers, deal with non performing officers and ensure the ministers were in full control of the ministries to enhance productivity, she said.

 “The PSC will still recruit civil servants especially those at graduate level entry, while under the new decentralization programme, only the recruitment of those in job group A to G will be transferred to the CSs,” she said.

Common cadre system

She said the government was moving away from the common cadre system, where officers were being moved from one ministry to another haphazardly, saying to improve efficiency, ministries would be responsible for their staff, and any transfers would have to be sanctioned by the PSC.

Future transfers would be mainly to share expertise and build capacity and not merely to transfer non-performing officers from one ministry to the other. Such officers will be subjected to disciplinary procedures, which are also contained in the new policy.

“The PSC role to protect our officers so as to improve efficiency in public service remains. We have set transfer guidelines which will be subject to our oversight where auditors will be sent to establish the reasons for the transfer and whether it is done within constitutional provisions,” she said.

Ms Otwala said the commission had retained appointment of staff in the higher cadres since they were more representative of the face of Kenya and there was need to ensure constitutional requirements of gender, persons with disability and regional balance was achieved.

According to the draft policy on decentralization of human resource management in the civil service, it refers to the current human resource system, inherited at independence as having led to the professionalization of the civil service through application of uniform norms and standards.

It is also cited as having encouraged mobility of staff within and across ministries, thus exposing staff to varied experiences and transfer of skills, knowledge and competencies.

Another merit of the system, whose implementation is set to be completed in November, this year, is that it protects officers from unfair treatment.

Its challenges on the other hand, are lack of control by the cabinet secretary over staff at the ministry, increased inefficiency, unethical behaviour and patronage and disruption of service delivery and achievement of performance targets due to transfer of officers during the year.

The old system is also cited for encouraging bureaucracy in implementation of human resource issues and for dual reporting relationship in support functions.