Three-year contracts are just another knee-jerk solution to ballooning public wage bill

After thinking long and hard about what to do with the runaway public wage bill, Kenya’s Public Service Commission has proposed a new policy that will end the long-standing permanent and pensionable employment scheme.

From July 1, hiring will be done on a three-year contract basis. Announcing the new policy, Stephen Kirogo, chairman of the PSC, said “… the public service is bloated, lethargic and unproductive.” Then, getting inspired by his own words, he concluded, “Nothing short of a brutal approach will work…”