Written by The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has come out clearly to oppose the proposed law of lowering the retirement age of public servants to 55 years. The current retirement age is 60 years. The proposal seeks to lower it with 5 years.
KNUT argues that if the retirement age will be reduced to 55 years, then the public sector will be denied the required expertise with the skills and experience that is needed to tackle some issues.
Mr. Malel Langat said that the retirement age that was adopted 15 years ago should be maintained because it does not make sense at all to reduce the retirement age of public servants to only 55 years.
He also argued that for instance, there are some teachers who have already attained the age of 45 years but they have never been absorbed or employed by the Teachers Service Commission. He added that for such a case it is very sad that if they are employed, then they will only render their services for a period of 10 years and then retire again.
The proposal was made with the aim of creating more job opportunities for the young and qualified professionals. It was also meant to make sure that the people who are almost retiring, empower the young people who are already in service so that they can continue with their legacy.
In most cases, many professionals always retire without mentoring other young people and that has always been a challenge that has even some people re-employed on contract basis in order to tap on their knowledge.