The government has set in motion plans to exempt the National Intelligence Service (NIS) from provisions of the Employment Act, 2007 guarding the agency’s employees from being subjected to the rigours of the employer-employee relationship.
The latest development follows a Cabinet resolution to have the spy agency align with other national security organs.
The move will see the spy agency join the rank and file of other national security organs excluded from the requirements of the Act after being inadvertently left out.
Exempted from the legislation are the armed forces or the reserve, the Kenya Police, the Kenya Prisons Service or the Administration Police Force.
Others are the National Youth Service as well as enterprises in a family setting where an employer and the employer’s dependants are the only staff in a family undertaking.
The development is contained in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2023 – which seeks to make various amendments to various statutes.
As part of miscellaneous amendments currently before the National Assembly, the government wants to amend Section 3 of the Employment Act, 2007 to provide immunity to the employees of the agency from the law, which applies to all employees employed by an employer under a contract of service.
“The Bill proposes to amend the principal law to exempt the NIS from the application of the Act in the same manner as other national security organs which are exempted,” reads the Bill tabled by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah early this month.
The NIS is a disciplined civilian intelligence agency established under Article 242 of the Constitution to be primarily responsible for security intelligence and counter-intelligence, besides performing other functions.
The Noordin Haji-led agency is tasked with gathering domestic and foreign intelligence as well as gathering and performing counter-intelligence.
Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) Executive Director Jacqueline Mugo said that since section 3(2) of the Employment Act already contains some exempted categories, specifically employees in the disciplined forces, the inclusion of the NIS is perhaps meant to ensure that all the disciplined forces are brought together under this exemption.
She said the law envisages that the arrangements made for exempted employees afford them better terms and protection that is equivalent to or better than those provided in the Employment Act, which contains the minimum.
“Given the sensitivity of the NIS role in the security sector, it may be counterproductive to subject them to the rigours of the employer-employee relationship,” said Ms Mugo.
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November 19, 2023 at 10:22AM
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