Parastatals have been given the green light to hire employees without seeking approval from the National Treasury first after the government lifted a five-year hiring ban.
This is according to a memo from State House that was issued by the head of public service Joseph Kinyua directed at principal secretaries, Cabinet secretaries and CEO of parastatals.
“State corporations with approved Human Resource Instruments will henceforth be exempt from the requirements of the Circular of 28th July 2017 and can therefore recruit staff, including replacement of staff in line with the State Corporations Advisory Committee approved staff establishment,” said Kinyua in the circular dated February 7, 2022.
However, parastatals will still need to receive board approval and confirmation in writing from the National Treasury that they have the budget for the new employees.
“The recruitment should, however, only be undertaken upon alignment with the approved human resource instruments and possession of written confirmation of requisite budgets for the recruitment and sustainability thereof from the National Treasury (as well as) existence of board resolutions approving the recruitment,” Kinyua added.
The government had in 2017 issued a moratorium on recruitment that restricted new hiring to essential services such as security, health and education.
The National Treasury had directed all ministries, state departments and agencies (MDAs) not to allocate resources for new recruitment.
Also frozen are paid internships and staff upgrades.
In a circular to accounting officers, Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani had stated that the only most essential jobs were to be budgeted for or advertised with prior express approval of the Treasury.
Budget allocations for 2021-22 to 2023 -24 was to only allow for normal wage drift to cater for movement from one salary scale to another.
MDAs were to obtain a written approval from his office about the availability of funds.
The state entities were to consult the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to make the funding adjustments only after getting the go-ahead.
