Public servants doing their bit, government letting them down

The new Cabinet Secretary in charge of Public Service recently promised to review the pay of civil servants in the country, pointing out that the last such review was many years ago and the rising cost of living that has made them struggle to meet the basic needs of their families.

Public service is the engine that drives service delivery in a country. From policemen, who keep citizens safe, to nurses and doctors who take care of our health, teachers and administrators, the quality-of-service delivery is directly linked to the human beings that the country has employed and deployed at the various service points.

Article 232 of the Constitution sets out the values and principles of public service. Reading through the commitments, it is clear that the country desires a public service that is professional, ethical, accountable, empowered and objective.

The rationale for this expectation is to enable Kenyans to enjoy quality public service.

I have spent the last two weeks travelling across Kenya and discussing an important national subject with citizens. I have met and observed a lot of public servants.

From engaging with the national government administration officers, for example, I got extremely impressed with the diligence, competence and focus on project Kenya.

A colleague with whom we were engaged in the field, quipped about the excellence of county commissioners that we met, asking loudly where the government recruited them from since they were top-notch.

The question above demonstrates that the oft-stated sentiment that Kenyans are amongst the most highly trained workforce in the world has merit. Despite this, the quality of public service across the country is one that citizens complain about. Where is the problem? To a large extent, the government continues to let its public servants down.

First, despite creating a Salaries and Remuneration Commission, the pay disparities in public service do not inspire commitment to service.

While appreciating that the country’s economy is under severe strain, several cadres of public servants who toil daily to ensure that Kenyans are safe, literate and healthy are not compensated to a scale that demonstrates the country’s prioritisation of their sectors.

Secondly, our decision-making as a country suffers from two problems. We celebrate politics over professionalism. The impact of this is that professionals either give way to the opinion of politicians, which is invariably guided by short-term interests and not technical feasibility, or they spend their energy angling how to join politics.

While an important part and parcel of society, the over-glorification of politics largely due to its monetisation is the bane of Kenyan society.

When government does not invest in improving the workplace by providing the requisite infrastructure and work materials, it is not possible to get excellent service delivery from the workers.