Budget cuts hit hard police, teachers’ recruitment

The biting austerity measures implemented by President William Ruto's administration have delivered a big blow to tens of thousands of unemployed Kenyans.

The National Treasury has confirmed massive cuts to planned recruitment of teachers, police officers and prison warders.

Treasury CS John Mbadi said in a brief to the National Assembly that there is not enough money to cater for the planned employment.

In a major policy reversal, the government now plans to recruit just 5,000 police officers in the 2025/26 financial year.

This is a half of the 10,000 officers that security agencies had planned to bring on board in the next financial year.

“Due to fiscal constraint, the National Treasury has allocated financial resources for the recruitment of 5,000 constables in the financial year 2025/2026,” Mbadi said.

Police jobs were cancelled in the current year’s budget after the collapse of the Finance Bill, 2024, following protests.

This is the third time police recruitment has been affected. The last exercise took place during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s era.

There were no listings in the financial year 2022-23 and in 2023-24 as a result of budget cuts, dashing hopes of many who eyed the jobs.

Stakeholders have raised concerns that the situation could worsen the human resource gaps in the service.

The situation in the prisons service appears equally dire, with 2,600 warders set to be hired next year instead of the planned 3,000.

The service had been forced to work with 4,900 warders it enlisted in 2022, before a budget freeze which hampered the process was lifted recently.

The cuts have not spared jobless teachers either, meaning the more than 343,000 who have registered with TSC will remain outside the government payroll longer.

The government had intended to hire 2,000 teachers in the spending period starting July 1, on permanent and pensionable basis for primary schools.

Another batch of 18,000 teachers was to be recruited on permanent and pensionable terms for secondary schools.

Treasury disclosures showed that the Kenya Kwanza team was to enlist 40,000 teachers every financial year until the year 2027-28.

But that has changed in the wake of spending cuts announced by the National Treasury as it presented estimates to MPs for approval.

Budget books for the 2025-26 financial year show that only 2,000 intern teachers would be hired for primary schools and 18,000 in the case of secondary schools.

The previous projections for 20,000 teachers being put on permanent and pension terms has been deleted in the estimates.

Schools have deplorable teacher-pupil ratios while the system which introduced junior secondary schools has presented new challenges.

TSC recently flagged a severe shortage of 98,260 teachers in public schools, affecting core subjects introduced under the competency based curriculum.

The teachers’ employer warned that the crisis is expected to deepen with the planned introduction of senior schools by 2026.

It proposed that teachers be hired for leather craft, picture making, sculpture, jewelry, media technology and woodwork.

There are also no qualified instructors for general science, indigenous languages, as well as marine and fisheries technology.

For Prison Warders, the initial plan was to recruit 3,000 this financial year and another 3,000 in the subsequent year.

Prisons had no budget in the financial year 2023-24 for listing new warders, leaving the service to function with the 4,900 that were listed the previous year.

Budgetary provisions have only been made for 2,600 officers next financial year.

The move could dash the hopes of youth who missed out in the recruitment which the service conducted recently.

Interns seeking to join the public service have equally been affected, amid revelations that only 8,000 would be onboarded.

The initial plan was to enlist 40,000 in the next three years, starting with 11,000 in the year starting July 1.

Ruto’s administration has come under sharp criticism over high levels of joblessness in the country.

The 2025 Economic Survey revealed that only 782,000 jobs were created in the year 2024, pointing to the tough times.

The situation may not improve in the wake of the substantial expenditure cuts affecting state agencies and ministries.

A tough economic environment has presented job freezes amid slowdown in business activities across nearly all sectors.

The World Bank, in an October 2024 report, put the unemployment rate at 5.7 per cent, indicating that the figures would worsen compared with last year.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

Treasury has decried funding shortages affecting key programmes and plans. State agencies and ministries face substantial cuts in their expenditures. Seafarers’ jobs have not been affected by the funding cuts.