The African Municipal and Local Government Unions Network (AMALGUN) has protested the government’s plan to lay off workers in public service. Addressing the press in Nairobi, AMALGUN officials said there is a planned retrenchment of 65,000 workers and they are privy to information that there is an elaborate plan spearheaded through the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs to lay off the workers under the guise of Capacity Assessment Rationalisation of the Public Service programme (CARPS). They said the action to retrench employees in the public service shall not be entertained and accepted, adding that it’s unlawful and ill-informed.
The Kenya County Government Workers Union secretary general Roba Duba said the idea has been resisted for a long time. “The idea was first started by the first Minister for Devolution Anne Waiguru..she lost on it, we fought and she’s gone, now there is Professor Kobia who is trying to revive it in the name of capacity assessment rationalisation programme,” said Roba, “You can’t come and ask someone who has worked for 32 years to prove their suitability for that job.” He said many of those who may be affected are on a retirement course and instead more should be done to educate and equip them to be ready for the retirement life, instead of opting for retrenchment.
Moreover, AMALGUN faulted the SRC for hindering collective bargaining agreements, saying it has encouraged discriminative increments of salaries at the County level, as is manifested by the non-increment of workers’ salaries since the inception of devolution.