Biometric Registration Of Public Servants

The Central Organisation of Trade Unions, COTU (K) supports the position taken by its affiliate Trade Union, the county government workers union in opposing the on-going biometric registration of public servants since as designed, the process aims at sacking employees through the back-door particularly the county government employees.

The Kenya government was among the first African governments to computerize records for its employees including their salaries as well as segregate computerization through departmental tabulation which meant every department has available on every member of staff as workers that are part of the wage bill.

Consequently, it has been the duty of the personnel officer in charge of individual department to inform the urgent Ministry and Treasury on reported retirements of staffs or deaths and immediately such employees removed from government payroll and this has been informed by the sensitive and modern information technology system within the government operations that was initially addressed way before former President Moi left government with President Mwai Kibaki improving on it.

Therefore for someone to come now with the an idea of demanding the first appointment letter of a member of staff within the civil service and county government which such records are available in individual files is tantamount for intimidation, harassment, ill-advised and a mission of social justice and COTU (K) cannot accept it as it no doubt reads mischief in the exercise cited by the county government of workers union General Secretary Hon. Roba Duba.

Indeed, Kenyans are aware that most of the Kenyans lost their original documents during the 2007-2008 post-election violence and as a results most to of them rely on documents held at the banks and in their personal files at their work places.

So let somebody come out openly, transparently and tell Kenyans that the country’s wage bill is too high and the government cannot meet the monthly wages for its employees as earlier envisaged COTU (K) in the year 2014 when COTU (K) alerted the Kenyan government that with the current so many levels of governance in a devolved system, in less than three years the government will not be able to meet its financial obligations including paying salaries to civil servants and all those on government payroll like Members of Parliament unless we grow our economy, one thing that the Kenyan government is not doing since COTU (K) is yet to see an economic development strategic blue-print being spearheaded by the government.

Francis Atwoli, EBS, MBS
SECRETARY GENERAL