State House among institutions hiring more staff without need assessment - Report
The creation of offices without workload analysis contravenes legal requirements mandating that such expansions be based on comprehensive plans.
A new report has revealed that five major public institutions, including the State House and the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), have been adding new staff to their payrolls without conducting proper assessments, contributing to the rising public wage bill.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) report highlights that the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), the PSC itself, the State Department for Parliamentary Affairs, KPA, and State House have led in creating new offices without workload analysis.
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This process involves introducing new roles or units that require hiring additional staff but does not necessarily mean setting up physical offices.
"Out of the 4,749 new offices established in the past three financial years, 4,679 (98.5 per cent) offices were established without a workload analysis being undertaken, while 70 (1.5 per cent) offices were established after undertaking a workload analysis," the report reads in part.
The report further reveals that these five institutions accounted for 93 per cent of the new offices created in the public service over three years leading to June 2023, contributing significantly to the ballooning wage bill.
KPA led with 2,442 new offices, followed by KRC with 1,767, PSC with 100, the State Department for Parliamentary Affairs with 95, and State House, which added 15 new offices.
The PSC reviewed the establishment of new offices across 330 institutions and found that 74 of them created 4,749 new offices between the 2021/22 and 2023/24 financial years.
The creation of offices without workload analysis contravenes legal requirements mandating that such expansions be based on comprehensive plans.
The PSC Act of 2017 states that new offices can only be established if they are backed by a written request, a workload analysis, and financial justification.
"The commission may establish an office in the public service after receipt of a written request by an authorised officer of a public body if the Commission is satisfied that the request is based on comprehensive plans informed by the public body's workload analysis (and) the financial implications of creating the office are indicated," the PSC Act states.
Unplanned hiring has contributed to the increase in Kenya's public wage bill, which rose by Sh136 billion – from Sh1.035 trillion in 2021-2022 to Sh1.17 trillion in 2023-2024. While other factors also influenced the rise, unchecked recruitment remains a major concern.
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