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{
    "id": 1376089,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1376089/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 223,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "One of the points that is being made against the Member for Embakasi Central’s argument is that there is a reason for extension of time for an individual who has special skills. We ought to ask ourselves a few questions. If an individual is employed in the public service at the ages of 20s or 30s, it means he will have worked for not less than 30 years before he is due for retirement. An entire institution can prepare a successor for such an individual. Therefore, there is no argument that can be made that there is one individual who ought to be retained because he has special skills. On that point, I not only support this Bill, but also during the Committee of the whole House, I will amend the provision so that the retirement age is reduced to 55 years. Kenya has a median age of 19 years. This is an extremely young country. It means that in excess of 500,000 individuals graduate from Form IV and we have 150,000 graduates every year. This means that there are very few spaces available for absorption into the public service and a huge number of people who can work. We also have to think about it in the flip side. Let us look at institutions that retain old staff. For example, Postal Corporation of Kenya, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) and Kenya Railways. They retained redundant staff. Why are they redundant? This is because we are moving into a new age, world and technologies. There is an aging population in the public service that is not fit for work at a time such as this. It is the time we need to onboard new knowledge, technologies and approaches. When we talk about representation, if Kenya is such a young country where 75 per cent of the population is under the age of 35, then the public service ought to reflect such age demographics. The second matter that this amendment seeks to cure is the mischief or misuse of the position of an acting staffer. It is condoning mediocrity to say that we have institutions in the Public Service that cannot prepare for succession for more than six months. What is the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}