Members of Parliament have proposed to lower the civil servants retirement age in Kenya to 55 from the current 65.
The move, according to the lawmakers, is aimed at availing more opportunities to the youth. The proposal will be introduced by the National Assembly’s Labour Committee which is currently evaluating the Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2023.
“We need to think further and reduce the age to 55 to make the youth of this country proud,” said Kangundo MP Fabian Muli. He added that if the committee is to serve the interest of the youth, then it should propose further amendments to the Bill to reduce the retirement age.
Ndindi Nyoro tightens his Kenya Power ownership with 32.5 million shares
The Bill has been sponsored by Embakasi Central Member of Parliament Benjamin Gathiru. The Bill is also seeking to declare that no civil servant shall be in an acting capacity for a position beyond six months.
The mandatory retirement age was in 2009 raised from 55 years to 60 years. This age was revised after the governments started struggling with payment of pension bills that were mounting.
At the time 35 per cent of employees in the national government were aged between 51 and 60 years.
Latest figures on pension payments by the government shows that in the six months to December 2021, the National Treasury paid out Sh. 69.22 billion in pension and gratuity.
It is not clear if the plan to reduce the retirement has the blessing of the executive and whether the government will be ready to absorb pension demands from tens of thousands of peoole who will retire five years earlier than was expected should the plan be made law.
