Number of civil servants suffering from mental health triples

The number of civil servants suffering from mental health has more than tripled in the last four years according to the State Department of Public Service.

According to the department, the number of workers suffering from mental breakdown had risen from 4,000 at the height of Covid-19 to 14,000 per year.

This emerged during the 28^th Annual national Human Resource Management (HRM) conference that has been organized by the Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM) in Naivasha.

According Public Service Principal Secretary Amos Gathecha, harsh economic times coupled by low wages and rising demands within family circles had led to the mental health crisis.

He said that this had pushed the officers to depression with some turning to alcoholism and others to suicide as the numbers continued to rise by the year.

“We have seen the number of civil servants suffering from mental health rise with 14,000 cases recorded last year and this could rise further this year,” he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Gathecha said that the government had opened counseling centers in all Huduma centers across the country to support the suffering officers.

He added that the government was coming up with a medical cover for all civil servants under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF).

“We have several policies that are meant to improve the working conditions for civil servants like working in a dignified environment,” he said.

He challenged the Human Resource practitioners in observing ethical standards and integrity as part of improving production in the public service.

On her part, IHRM Executive Director Quresha Abddullahi said that the institute had partnered with EACC in launching the Ethics in Human Resource Management curriculum.

Quresha said that the institute was committed to ethics and integrity from HR practitioners as part of transforming the workplace.

“We are working with EACC on issues of integrity at the workplace and we are asking the government to make sure that human resources officers adhere to IHRM policies,” she said.

EACC Deputy CEO Abdi Mohammed said that the new curriculum would go a long way in capacity building and empowering human resource officers to address integrity issues.

He said that in their investigations, they had established that professionals working in various departments were responsible for graft.

“This new Ethics in Human Resource Management curriculum will come in handy in addressing issues of graft and ethics in government agencies,” he said.