2,000 to land plum jobs in Jubilee parastatal reforms

Over 2,000 jobs are on offer as the government prepares to appoint chief executives, board members and senior staff of State corporations, statutory bodies, universities and other public entities.

Sources at the Office of the President told the Nation that the list, which is being worked on by a team drawn from the OP and the Deputy President’s office, will see big names make a comeback to government.

“The president has said more appointments will be made. Certainly, those sectors that do not have heads now will be worked on. I cannot tell you the timeline but certainly those appointments will be made,” said State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu.

But a confidential document from the Office of the President seen by the Nation notes that 22 parastatals and commissions are already in a crisis due to a power vacuum in those corporations.

“These parastatals and commissions require urgent action due to the critical nature of services that they offer the people and also their role in the economy,” reads the document. However, the Nation has learnt that the final list has delayed because the Office of the President and that of Deputy President were still haggling over the appointments.

Those who will be considered include politicians who lost in the last election and who are in good books with the government.

CRITICAL BODIES

According to the document, besides the 22 that are in a crisis, there are other critical bodies such as Kenya Forestry Service which has no board members and the Kenya Wildlife Service which has no chairperson and board members. The agencies are also supposed to be merged.

The same fate faces Capital Markets Authority, ICDC, Kenya Investment Authority, Retirement Benefits Authority, Insurance Regulatory Authority, Women Enterprise Fund and MSEA Authority.

“We therefore need to track the merger process and ensure it is midwifed properly so that these institutions can perform effectively,” reads the document.

The brief warns that some corporations such as the Numerical Machining Complex do not have a chairperson and a substantive CEO.

It warns that some corporations may start operating as late as the third financial year of Jubilee’s five-year term.

“Slowness in overseeing the integration of delivery of services by Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority means that it will start full operations from the third Financial Year under Jubilee government,” the brief says of the parastatal.

AFA was to take over the roles of ten other corporations in the Ministry of Agriculture that were merged.

A Task Force headed by the President’s advisor on constitutional affairs Abdikadir Mohammed proposed to reduce the number of parastatals from 262 to 187 in its final report last October.