Opinion & Analysis
Why Kenyans have little confidence in their government and its institutions
Pupils inside a dilapidated class at Rehema Primary School in Wareng District. Corruption, which has hit the Free Primary Education has, made Kenyans and donors to lose trust in the government. Photo/FILE
Posted Tuesday, February 9 2010 at 00:00
Departmental Directors are accountable for the performance of the departments they head as well as the conduct of their staff.
Likewise, Division Heads are accountable for the units that they head.
The Permanent Secretaries, are responsible for putting in place such organisational structure, and instill the principle of institutional accountability in each and all of the senior staff they supervise.
I direct the Permanent Secretary for Performance Contracting to revise all existing contracts and insert a clause that stipulates that once the ministry as a whole or individual units in it are charged with serious malpractices, the person who heads the ministry or the units involved automatically and voluntarily steps down, irrespective of whether he or she is directly implicated in that case.
A responsible government does not wait for a Kacc ruling or a court verdict.
Once a public servant loses the confidence of the public he or she is to serve, he or she can no longer serve the public.
The explicit stipulation of this principle in the performance contract de-politicises the personnel decision.
The expeditious enforcement of accountability through a strong clause in Performance Contract is particularly important because prompt resolution of any charges cannot be expected at Kacc under the current circumstances.
Cases after cases are piling up at Kacc, and the public no longer regards Kacc as an effective anti-corruption instrument.
It is viewed as a parking lot for cases.
Many of our public institutions do not have a requisite capacity or organisation to practice this principle.
For example, many of the public institutions may not have monitoring mechanisms that allow you to exercise adequate control over the operations of your ministry.
We will examine together how to put in place necessary capacity and operational procedures.
Investigations into an alleged malpractice should be conducted by neutral parties.
If the Ministry of Education conducts investigations into the missing billions of shillings or millions of books, the public would naturally be sceptical.
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