|
|
Kenya: Top Civil Servants Cry Foul Over Promotions
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Nation (Nairobi)
26 April 2008
Posted to the web 25 April 2008
Saturday Nation
Nairobi
Top career civil servants are unhappy with the retention and appointment of permanent secretaries aged 55 and above.
Although the appointments are the President's prerogative, the officers, most of them senior deputy secretaries, told the Saturday Nation this week, that they are increasingly being tossed aside by the Kibaki Government, which they say appears to prefer university teachers or people in private companies.
"I have faithfully served the Government for more than 30 years and since I have only five years before retirement, I'm unlikely to be appointed PS despite my experience and qualifications," said one who asked not to be identified by name for fear of victimisation.
The civil servants cited the example of the recent appointments in which President Kibaki stuck to his tradition of hiring PSs from the universities and the private sector.
The new PSs include Dr Ludeki Chweya and Dr Kithure Kindiki, both from the Nairobi University. But the President picked some from the public service, including Mr Seno Nyakenyanya, Mr Richard Ndubai and Ms Amina Mohammed.
Chief engineer
Also promoted was Mr Carey Orege, the new Regional Development Authorities PS. He was the chief engineer in the Roads and Public Works ministry.
In a move seen as aimed at appeasing a group of disgruntled civil servants, the Government last year appointed several of them to the newly created position of director of administration.
Those in this position deputise for PSs, and most of of them had marked time in the senior deputy secretary's post for many years.
According to sources, the career civil servants' gripe arises from the fact that they are expected to "rope in" the new PSs on the functions of the civil service. "Despite their impressive CVs, some of the newly appointed PSs lack managerial skills after spending most of their working life either in classrooms or in careers such as researchers," a deputy secretary said.
"Without our input, a majority of the new appointees will most likely be at sea."
Disgruntled servants
According to the disgruntled staff, the retention of public service chief Francis Muthaura also came as a surprise. It had been rumoured that he was headed home alongside nine others who had attained the mandatory retirement age.
Mr Muthaura has been in public service head since 2003 when he took over from Dr Sally Kosgei, now minister for Higher Education.
Although soft-spoken, he has ruffled quite a few feathers by being seen to be meddling in political issues. And despite other officials' lobbying for his job on account of his age, President Kibaki has routinely renewed his contract.
|
Other PSs believed to be past 55 are Prof Karega Mutahi (Education), Dr James Nyikal (Public Health and Sanitation), Mr Joseph Kinyua (Finance), Mr Patrick Nyoike (Energy) and Dr Mohammed Isahakia (Prime Minister's Office).
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
