Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Kibaki warns against illegal, premature campaigns




Written By:Margaret Kalekye/PPS,    Posted: Mon, Mar 26, 2012
Ministry of Planning and National Development emerged the top Ministry during the 2010/2011 Performance Evalution results at KICC, Nairobi.
President Mwai  Kibaki  is urging public officers to guard against distractions by the many sideshows in the countdown to the next general elections and instead to remain focused on service delivery.
The President stated that despite the few months remaining before the country goes to the general elections, the Coalition government will remain fully functional to serve Kenyans.
Speaking Monday during the official release of the 2010/2011 performance evaluation results at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, the President called for the observance of the calendar of events outlined by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to guard against illegal and premature campaigns.
Said the President, "As a government we have a responsibility to the people of Kenya. There is much that we need to do for the Kenyan people in the months ahead, so let us stay focused in our service delivery".
President Kibaki emphasized that performance contracting remained critical in the attainment of Vision 2030 as it provided clear accountability systems, prudent leadership and a highly developed manpower resource in the public service.
He pointed out that external experts from the private sector were now part of the contracting process, making it more transparent.
The President affirmed the Government's determination to ensure that the public service fully embraced transparency and provision of timely and accurate service and information to the public, values and principles that are currently enshrined in the Constitution.
Since performance contracting was introduced in 2004, President Kibaki observed, the practice has been rolled out throughout the Government and was being implemented in close to five hundred public institutions.
"Performance contracting has radically transformed how our public institutions are managed.  Indeed, the rallying call of ‘What gets measured gets done' has been spot on.  This spirit has now been captured in the Constitution" noted the President.
He appreciated performance contracting as part of the broader public sector reforms aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness in the management of public service whose implementation is informed by the understanding that the efficiency of the public sector is a critical condition for economic development.
The President urged public agencies to take the implementation of performance contracting to higher levels to ensure a more efficient public service that can effectively steer national development.
During the occasion, the Head of State asked public service agencies lagging behind to pull up their socks in order to meet public expectations in service delivery.
"The performance contracting system we are implementing has enabled public service managers to measure their achievement levels in order to determine if they are making progress.  This has made public servants more accountable.  It has also led to increased output and improved performance" the President observed.
During the occasion, President Kibaki presented trophies and certificates to top public service performers in recognition of their exemplary performance.
Addressing the same forum Prime Minister Rt Hon. Raila Odinga said that County Governments would be subjected to performance contracting once they came into existence after the next general elections.
The Prime Minister also declared that appropriate action would be taken to curtail failure by some public service agencies to submit their performance contract results.
Acting Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr. Francis Kimemia said that measures were being put in place to insulate the performance contract process from political interference through an Act of Parliament.
Mr. Kimemia expressed confidence that the current parliament would debate and pass into law the bill aimed at entrenching the performance contracting as one of transformative legacies of President Kibaki's government which has ingrained the culture of hard work, integrity, transparency and accountability.
The Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 emerged the top performer followed by the Ministry of Energy and Lands respectively.
With regard to State Corporations, University of Nairobi emerged the best performer followed by Kenyatta University and then Nyayo Tea Zones.
Kikuyu Town Council emerged the best local authority followed by the Town Council of Othaya while the Municipal Council of Machakos emerged position three.
The occasion was graced by a delegation from the Republic of Sierra Leone, cabinet ministers, assistant ministers, and senior government officials.

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