The High Court on Tuesday suspended a circular issued by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua on the age limit for parastatal bosses.

Employment and Labour Relations Court Justice Onesmus Mutua further stopped the government from implementing Kinyua’s circular that was sent to Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries in all ministries.

Last week, activist Okiya Omtatah moved to court challenging government decision to remove the age limit of all parastatals chiefs.

Kinyua issued the directive that CEO’s of public bodies will not be subjected to both the mandatory retirement age of 60 years and further said they can also serve for more than six years.

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Mandatory retirement scrapping

On February 27, Mr Kinyua issued a notice, which on its implementation, would have exempted all CEOs of public agencies from the mandatory retirement age of 60 years. He further changed the maximum tenure of the parastatal bosses from six to 10 years.

The circular issued by Kinyua and copied to the Cabinet Secretaries, the Attorney General and the Principal Secretaries indicates that the terms of service for CEOs are contractual and renewable based on performance and business requirements.

Kinyua’s notice also had directed that that the CEOs would not be subjected to the general public service policy on mandatory retirement at 60 or 65 years or limit as to the number of terms served.

This prompted Mr Omtatah to sue Mr Kinyua in his latest legal battle with Uhuru’s Jubilee administration. The court on Tuesday would then order to serve the petition on Kinyua and the Public Service Commission before the end Tuesday. The case will be heard on April 12.