The Chairperson of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), Lyn Mengich, has voiced her disagreement with a parliamentary proposal aiming to lower the retirement age for civil servants to 55 years.

In an interview with journalists on April 2nd, Mengich emphasized that reducing the retirement age would merely swell the population of pensioners who are still capable of being productive contributors to society.

Currently set at 60 for civil servants and 65 for those with disabilities, the retirement age faces potential revision through a proposal before a parliamentary committee seeking to implement the change.

Parliament argues that lowering the retirement age would open up job opportunities and facilitate the integration of Kenya's youth into the Civil Service.

However, Mengich countered this notion, stating that prematurely retiring individuals at 55 would result in a larger number of people reliant on pensions and would diminish the available workforce prematurely.

She argued, "If you say people retire at 55, these are people who are still productive, they can still contribute effectively to the country. Why do you want to retire them early yet these are people who can contribute?"

Mengich proposed exploring alternative avenues for job creation rather than reducing the mandatory retirement age.

Furthermore, addressing concerns about the government's current wage bill, Mengich highlighted the importance of privatizing state corporations as a means of reducing expenditure. She also pointed out that the inflated wage bill is exacerbated by redundant roles within the government.

Resistance to the proposed retirement age reduction has been evident among civil servants and trade unions. They argue that such a change would breach contracts signed with the government during employment.