Report: Kenya’s Posta To Fire Half Of Its Employees

Kenya’s Postal Corporation (Posta) is about to lay off about 1, 200 of its employees in order to save the company from sinking.

The Posta released a report of its plan to force nearly half of its 3,200 employees to early retirement to save the company from crashing.

The state corporation is facing tough financial times after Kenyans follow the technological trend of writing to write emails instead of sending letters. The company has ventured into courier business but has faced stiff completion from private courier firms leaving it further strained.

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The company which currently spending up to 65% ( KSh 1.7 billion) of its annual income to pay all it employees has ventured into courier business but has faced stiff completion from private courier firms leaving it further strained.

Posta is apparently spending more than twice it’s income because the firm spends above the 30% recommended amount to be spent on recurrent expenditure.

Hence, in its report, a task force appointed by ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru said to remain afloat, Posta must retrench and restructure.

The report also recommended that the remaining employees be equipped with technological skills.

Though the decision is said to be in the interest of Posta, it may turn out to be a serious issue for the Jubilee administration especially as the country’s political campaign goes hotter ahead of the August 8 presidential election.

Posta’s planned retrenchment would also add to the economic and unemployment heat cutting across various parts of the country.

Kenya’s GDP growth is projected to decelerate to 5.5%, a 0.5 percentage point mark down from the 2016 forecast, according to the World Bank’s Kenya Economic Update (KEU) released in Nairobi in April.

Coupled with the ongoing drought which has led to crop failure, dying herds of livestock, and increased food insecurity, addition to the list of the unemployed would stand a great threat to Uhuru Kenyatta’s embattled administrations.

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The ongoing drought in Kenya has equally affected productions in the country. With hydropower being the cheapest source of energy in Kenya, poor rains increase energy costs, their effects spilling over to other sectors. The rise of in food and energy prices drove inflation to a five-year high of 10.3% in the first quarter of the year 2017.

Thus, Kenyans are desperately in need of a political leader who would relieve their pains and hardships in terms of creating jobs, food and other necessities of life.

To Achieve this, the Kenya Economic Update (KEU) advocates a concerted campaign to develop the housing finance market that will present new avenues of income through the construction sector and other related industries.