Non-performance, malpractice, and impunity are rife in the Public Service, Felix Koskei, the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service has confirmed in a communication to top government officials when he called for yet another meeting to revamp service delivery.
The virtual meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 30.
Koskei says in the July 24 memo that the corrective resolutions from such high-level meetings were gathering dust on the shelves. He said this has “fostered a culture of abject impunity, leading to the persistent recurrence of malpractice and non-performance”.
The meeting is coming only a month after President William Ruto addressed a similar meeting that Cabinet Secretaries attended. Going by the frequency of the meetings, public service is emerging as one of the painful headaches of the Kenya Kwanza Administration.
Indeed, less than a year after taking over as President in September 2022, Ruto warned clueless Cabinet Secretaries that their days in office were numbered.
He said in August 2023: “The moment I know more than you in your ministry, then you must begin to understand that something is very wrong.” He continued: “By Constitution you are supposed to advise me. Explain to me how you are going to advise me if you have less information than I do.”
According to Koskei, the top officials including principal secretaries (PSs) and other high-ranking government workers are not taking corrective measures to resuscitate service delivery and they are not punishing non-performers.
He pointed out in the July 24 communication that there was loss of public trust, “inexplicable loss and wastage of public funds and resources.” According to Koskei, the Public Service is now marked by delivery of “substandard” goods and services in terms of timeliness, quality and quantity.
Public confidence in public institutions was waning, catapulted by runaway impunity and misuse of resources, leaving an unsightly mound of losses and hurt, he said.
He said the virtual meeting is a must-attend for PSs and CEOs of State corporations and agencies because they are assembling to discuss the “urgent measures” needed to revamp service delivery.
The entire Public Service, he said, is ripe for re-imagination to improve service delivery through “right attitude, ethos and ethics towards work, reinforced by prompt corrective action and the consistent application of lawful consequences for infractions”.
Top brass leading a number of departments and agencies oversight and revamp teams will also be attending the meeting that will draw the attention of various observers, including the media, development partners and the Church that has been poking holes in government agenda.
