Impact of the Policy for Persons With Disability on Inclusivity in Public Service- a Comparative Study of Service Commissions in Kenya

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of disabled people policies on inclusivity in Public Service. Particularly, the study assessed the impact of the said policies in five independent commissions namely TSC, PSC, SRC, NPSC and CAJ. It specifically sought to investigate the implementation strategies and challenges of recruitment policies as well as establishing the extent to which Kenyan public service has mainstreamed disabled Person’s policies. The study was anchored on the hypotheses that there is inadequate awareness of disability policies which has led to low level of employment of disabled persons and that implementation of performance contracting enhances inclusivity whereas recruitment enhances socioeconomic integration of PWDs. The study adopted purposive sampling in determining sample elements from the sample frame obtained from the commissions. Interviews and fact sheet from authorized organization officials were used for collection of data. The presentation and analysis of data was done using SPSS and excel programs. The main study finding was that the policy for recruitment had enhanced inclusivity in public service. Specific findings on the other hand were that inadequate awareness of policies has contributed to under recruitment of persons with disabilities. Furthermore, the barriers such as inaccessible workplace, lack of facilitation of PWDs in workplace and inequalities in education opportunities affected inclusivity in Public service. The conclusion for this study is that performance contracting has enhanced inclusivity of PWDs through increased opportunities and socioeconomic integration of PWDs. The study recommended establishing proper mechanisms for ensuring that public service institutions implement performance contracts and further studies on impact of policy for disabled persons be conducted in Parastatals and County Governments.