CABINET MEETS

Cabinet is set to meet today, a day after the best and worst performing ministries were revealed at a public function attended by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Ministers have not sat together for nearly three months, following a stand-off between Kibaki and Raila after the President rejected an attempt by the PM to suspend two ministers.

The agenda of today’s Cabinet meeting could not be established but the Proposed Constitution could be a likely topic.

On Monday, representatives of the State met Christian clerics to discuss their demands on the new law.

The resumption of the meetings come a week after a mini-reshuffle in which former Agriculture Minister William Ruto was moved to the Higher Education Ministry. Ruto was one of the two Raila had tried to suspend.

The Attorney General’s office under Amos Wako was ranked the best performer. In a surprise twist, Ruto was one of the best performing ministers in the last two years. The report covered 2008/2009 when Ruto was at the helm of the Agriculture ministry but on Monday Sally Kosgei, who replaced him last week, stepped forward to receive the prize. State House was ranked the third best performer.

Releasing the rankings, Raila said performance of Government ministries and departments had improved under challenging conditions.

"The results show that despite the aftermath of the post-election violence, and the vagaries of the drought and the economic down-turns in the past two years, on the whole, performance of Government agencies improved significantly," he said.

In the results released on Monday, at an event officiated over by President Kibaki, no criteria of arriving at the performance of the ministries and other Government agencies were given. Last year, the results of performance for the previous financial year were held in abeyance.

The PM said: "We took this action because there were concerns that some of the key results did not seem to be in line with the position on the ground. These anomalies have now been corrected."

Signed contracts

Ministry of Livestock Development, headed by Mohammed Kuti, is ranked as the worst performing, followed by Ministry of Labour, headed by John Munyes. Paul Otuoma’s Fisheries Development ministry comes next. Public Service Commission and Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not covered because they had not signed the contracts. But Raila said they have since signed them.

Under the State Corporations, Nyayo Tea Zones Development Corporation is ranked the best followed by University of Nairobi and Kenya Literature Bureau. Multi-Media University College of Kenya, School Equipment Production Unit and Chemelil Sugar Company are the worst performing State corporations.

In Local Authorities, the Town Council of Kangundo is ranked the best, followed by Town Council of Malava and Municipal Council of Mombasa respectively. Town Council of Oyugis, County Council of Nyeri and Town Council of Nyamarambe are the worst performing.

Government services

The PM said in addition to the evaluation of service delivery through performance contracting, the Government conducted a nation wide customer satisfaction survey in September 2009. The survey covered nearly 2,500 consumers of Government services, and more than 1,000 public officials distributed in all eight provinces. Raila said the survey showed a customer satisfaction index of 63.5 per cent.

"This score is at par with performance of some of developed countries. For example, New Zealand scored 68 per cent and Canada got 67 per cent in a similar survey taken a few years ago," said the PM.

Kibaki and Raila conveyed a message that public service is a job that must be taken seriously by all the three arms of the Government.

Forming the crux of this message is a warning to non-performing ministers that they risk facing the axe if their performances do not show any sign of tangible improvement, and a directive to the Judiciary and Parliament to sign performance contracts.

Kibaki called on the Judiciary, which has been opposed to signing performance contracts with the Executive, and Parliament, to take cue from Government ministries. Raila warned that public officers who continuously register poor results would face the chopping board. He also called for a step-up on the war against corruption instructing that a component on the fight against the vice be included in the next cycle of performance contracting.

In calling the Judiciary on board, the President said the contracts should not be seen as interference to its independence "but a move geared at improving service delivery to tax payers".

The clamour for the Judiciary to sign performance contracts reached a crescendo in 2008 but Chief Justice Evan Gicheru protested.

At the time it was Raila who stirred the hornet’s nest. But Gicheru led the judges in rejecting the move arguing the manner judges execute their functions is a constitutional issue.

"Accountability should be directly to the people of Kenya whom we serve as one Government. We should move quickly and ensure that the Legislature and the Judiciary are brought on board," Kibaki said on Monday.

He said that while the process of performance contracting has progressed remarkably well, it has been limited to the Executive. He said the performance and actions of any of the three arms has a direct bearing on the other arms.

In 2007, the National Economic and Social Council’s report indicated that Kenyans want MPs to sign performance contract, but they did not take it kindly. Kibaki’s directive is, therefore, likely to generate a lot of heat from the MPs who have been constantly put under the spotlight.

Deserving Kenyans

"Let me make it clear. Officers who consistently perform poorly will be required to give way to other deserving Kenyans," warned the PM.

Apart from the names of poorly performing ministries being published in the media, a reprimand would also be issued from the President and the PM.

Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno said since the implementation of performance contracting in 2004 public service delivery has fundamentally changed pointing out the ministry has initiated a pay policy that attracts the best human resource.

In 2007, Kenya won the prestigious United Nations Public Service Award, making Kenya a case study of performance contracting. And true to this, a delegation from Nigeria was on Monday present at the ceremony to study Kenya’s system.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka said the country’s economy would continue to grow if the civil servants were keen on efficiency.