The number of workers joining the civil service has exceeded those leaving for the first time in four years, signalling a reversal in the workforce contraction in State ministries and departments since the current administration took office.
A budgetary update from the State Department for Public Service and Human Capital Development shows that the number of civil servants covered by the government medical scheme —a scheme reserved for staff on permanent and pensionable terms — increased by 1,131 to 125,342 in the year to June 2026.
The increase bucked a trend of drops in the number of workers covered in the scheme for three consecutive years, indicating that exits had outpaced new entrants during that period.
The Public Service department figures do not mean that 1,131 civil servants were hired in the last financial year, but reflect a net increase in the number of permanent and pensionable workers covered by the scheme.
This means recruitment and other additions to the civil service workforce exceeded departures through retirement, death, resignation, dismissal and other forms of separation during the year under review.
The reversal provides the first indication since the start of the current administration that the permanent workers in ministries may have moved from sustained contraction to net expansion.
The number of workers had fallen by 3,743 in the year ended June 2023, the first one under the current government, before declining further by 5,162 employees in the year that followed and a further 9,769 in the year to June 2025.
The aging civil service had overall lost 18,674 covered workers over those three years, with the contraction accelerating at a faster pace in the year ended June 2025.
The latest increase in workers on payroll in ministries is, however, is still modest compared with those who exited the civil service, leaving the number of workers 17,543 below the 142,885 recorded in the financial year ended June 2022.
The workforce also remains below the government’s staffing target. The State Department for Public Service had targeted 150,320 permanent and pensionable workers for medical coverage in 2025/26. Actual coverage was 125,342, leaving a gap of 24,978 workers, equivalent to about 16.6 percent of the target.
The data therefore points to a partial reversal rather than a return to previous staffing levels, with the permanent workforce still smaller than four years ago. The Public Service Commission (PSC), which manages human resources in the civil service, said the government continuously plans for staff exits and recruitment to address succession gaps.
“These issues are adequately covered under our human resource planning strategy,” the commission said in a last year response to falling civil servant counts, adding that exits occur through “death, retirement, dismissal or resignations”.
The PSC said it recruits young graduates annually at entry level across various disciplines, while promotions are used to fill higher-level positions when vacancies are declared by ministries and State departments.
The explanation provides context for the latest increase, as the number of workers covered by the medical scheme reflects the net effect of recruitment, promotions and departures rather than recruitment alone.
The commission has also rejected the suggestion that permanent civil service jobs are being systematically replaced with contracts, saying entry-level employment remains on permanent and pensionable terms.
“Employment in the civil service for entry-level jobs is on a PnP [permanent and pensionable] basis, and the terms currently remain the same,” the PSC said in response to the Business Daily.
“However, there are certain supernumerary positions that are based on contract, for instance, employment to meet a certain emergent need, such as when we had the Covid-19 pandemic, and there was a need for more vigilance at our country’s entry points.”
The commission also reviews government staffing structures as technology and change in organisational requirements, resulting in some positions being abolished or redesigned in the ministries.
“Some of the cadres that have over the years been abolished owing to their irrelevance include telephone operators, copy typists, rat catchers, mosquito catchers etc,” it said.
The commission argues that such changes are targeted at improving efficiency and ensuring that the workforce matches changing government operations. The staffing data show that this restructuring has occurred alongside a reduction in the permanent workforce who have left the civil service since fiscal year 2021/22.
The number covered by the medical scheme peaked at 142,885 in 2021/22 before falling consistently for three years.
