Police Constable Jairus Mulumia who volunteered to teach mathematics to pupils of Forole Primary School after teachers failed to show up due to conflict has been recognized and awarded as the best performing public servant in 2019.
Mulumia’s sacrifice and efforts on the Kenya-Ethiopia border were recognized by the Public Service Commission (PSC) during its annual excellence awards on Friday.
Speaking during the ceremony, Head of Public Service Dr. Joseph Kinyua congratulated Mulumia and all the winners saying that the awards recognize the efforts by public servants and encourage others to work tirelessly to serve citizens.
“We will forward Mulumia’s name to the President and recommend him for an award so that he becomes a role model to be emulated by others,” said Kinyua.
Dr. Kinyua urged ministries and departments to utilize Information Communications and Technology (ICT) tools and techniques in aligning themselves to new world realities of digital transformation in service delivery.
“More importantly we should align our strategic plans to make them more citizen centric as well as embracing innovations and tools such as performance contracting to make our organizations more responsive to citizen’s needs,” said Kinyua.
He said that just recently Kenya was ranked 56 among 180 economies in the world by the World Bank’s ease of doing business index, improving from position 129 in 2013, an indication that the public service is creating a conducive environment for doing business.
“This is a clear demonstration of the relentless efforts many public servants have put in for Kenya to achieve this important ranking,” he said.
PSC chairman Stephen Kirogo said that this year’s awards are unique in that public servants in far flung parts of the country who work to address the challenges and problems afflicting Kenyans in those areas were feted.
Kirogo said that the Commission has aligned its mandate in order to contribute the development of the country and achievement of Vision 2030 from which the Big 4 agenda is derived.
Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) chairperson Lyn Mengich said that the public service has been improving over time but there is much more that is needed to reach the pinnacle of public service.
“I am sure you have read the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report and Kenyans want more from the public service. I want to thank those who have won these awards because they are an example of how a few can do something to transform the way citizens view the public service,” she said.
The ministry of Interior scored big at the award ceremony with a team of Chiefs from Kibra scooping the citizen centric service award for their gallant efforts in fighting crime, drugs and substance abuse, illicit brews and communicating government policies to residents in good time.
Others who were recognized were Joseph Nanzala from the survey department at the ministry of lands for his efforts in reconstructing mutilated land maps and helping those with land problems get their title deeds.
Makueni County Commissioner (CC) Maalim Mohamed was also recognized for serving citizens with dignity, courtesy and opening beach access road in Mombasa while he was serving there.
Hussein Abdullahi an Information officer at the Ministry of Information Communications and Technology (ICT) emerged the Second Runner-up in the Public Service Values and Ethics category for his informative and well-articulated news stories which appear in Mygov weekly pullout.
Ms. Said Umi Athman, the Lamu County Huduma center manager was recognized for conducting over 16 outreach programs which have been successful in bringing government services closer to the citizens. In 2017 she was awarded as the best Huduma center manager and was rewarded with a trip to Morocco.
Speaking on behalf of all the awardees, Ms. Athman said that service is from the heart and they are all servants in the community at their own different capacities.
“Everyone has a role to play in the community and in the country at large and we should strive to do it to the best of our ability,” she said.
By Joseph Ng’ang’a
