6 | NEWSFOCUS Verbatim October 23, 2018 www.mygov.go.ke The Constitution has brought Transforming the Public Service to improve efficiency and quality of service is one of the recurrent themes of Kenyan governance. For Prof. Margaret Kobia, the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs, optimising efficiency in delivery of services to the people is not just an idle promise but a tangible goal pursued with vigour every working day. Prof Kobia spoke to Ngari Gituku, outgoing Director Government Advertising Agency (GAA) Madam Cabinet Secretary, yours is a wide-ranging portfolio - Public Service, Youth and Gender affairs. What does it all entail? I can summarise the mandate of my ministry as encompassing Public Service transformation, youth empowerment and promotion of gender equality, and the empowerment of women. The Public Service portfolio is the widest as it comprises the entire public service including National and County Public Service. Public Service plays a key role in advising on policy formulation, implementing policies and programmes of the Government, and optimising efficiency in delivery of services to the people. How do you rate the efficiency of the Kenyan Public Service? There are some fundamentals that define an efficient and effective Public Service. These include strategies that guide the service delivery, systems, policies, rules & procedures that guide implementation, a competent human capital to implement, a fitting organisational culture with the right values and ethos, and a visionary and transformational leadership to get it done. In Kenya, we have the benefit of a Constitution that defines the values and principles of Public Service. It requires the Public Service to be efficient, motivated, well-trained, responsive, efficient and effective in-service delivery to citizens. The Constitution has brought new impetus to public sector reforms as it introduced de-centralisation of services and a set of national values and principles of Governance. How is the Ministry of Public Service which is a National Government organ connected to the County Government System? As His Excellency the President always emphasizes, the cardinal operating principle in Public Service is efficiency and effectiveness in serving mwananchi seamlessly, and not whether the service is offered by the National Government or County Government. My ministry is the bridge between the county and national government with respect to Public Service delivery. We are mandated to ensure that national and county Government functions are properly structured and staffed to facilitate transformation of the public service for efficient and effective service delivery at the National and County Government levels. That is why at Huduma Centers today, you will find both national and county government counters. Fundamentally, the Government has an ambitious transformation agenda, aimed at increasing the global competitiveness of the country and also reduce inequality. This calls for a highly effective and productive Public Service. Has the devolved system of Government impacted management and delivery of public services? The introduction of devolved system of government has occasioned both opportunities and challenges. It has transformed the governance structure by taking services and resources closer to the people. That naturally calls for far reaching reforms. These reforms are addressed under the five key Public Service Transformation pillars namely: Human Capital Management and Development, Transformative and Value-driven Leadership; Fit-for-purpose Public Institutions; Efficient, Effective and Citizen-Centered Service Delivery; and Public Sector Productivity & Global Competitiveness. Reforms are also guided by the principles in Kenya Constitution 2010 and the Kenya Vision 2030 which bind all public officers to observe the principles of good governance, high patriotism, ethics and integrity. However, the reforms are still at the formative stages and it is too early to make a call on them. The country is yet to realise the full benefits of the envisioned transformation of devolved services. The Government has been talking about reforming the public service for some time now. Are the reforms still on course? The Government aims to facilitate the realisation of a citizen-focused and results-oriented public service as envisioned in the Constitution. An efficient, effective, equitable and ethical public sector is vital to the successful implementation of policies, programmes and projects outlined in Kenya Vision 2030 and its mediumterm plans (MTPs). To facilitate this, the National and County Government Coordinating Summit initiated Capacity Assessment and Rationalization of the Public Service programme in 2013. We call it CARPS in short. Could you please elaborate what CARPS is all about? The CARPS programme is a joint national and county government programme delivered through a consultative institutional framework that involves both levels of Government. The programme covers National and County Governments for now. State corporations, independent offices, constitutional commissions, and disciplined forces will be involved at a later date. The implementation of the programme is in three phases. Phase one involved study and design, phase two includes rationalisation and deployment of staff, and phase three involves re-engineering and capacity building. Phase one is complete and has produced a report covering human resource audit, organisational review, workload analysis and made proposals on options and incentives. It is of public interest to know what the study found. Were there particularly revealing findings? Some key findings were that we have an ageing Public Service with 60 % over 40 years old; we have a shortage of technical and professional skills in critical areas; we have weak control systems in payroll management; we are not compliant with constitutional and legislative
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