Public Service, Human Capital Development and Special Programmes Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku, has announced plans to introduce a clock-in system to monitor the attendance and performance of civil servants.
According to CS Ruku, the system is also expected to monitor adherence by the civil servants of the 2016 Human Resource Policies Procedure Manual for Public Service, the Public Service Code of Conduct and Ethics of 2016, the Induction Handbook for the Public Service 2017 among other policies and circulars issued by the government on the conduct of civil servants.
Ruku noted that the system will also flag ‘ghost civil servants’ who abscond their duties a few hours after reporting to work, adding that going forward, public servants who report late to work will be regarded as ghost workers and risk losing their jobs.
“We are going to get in touch with all the supervisors from the sub-county level to the county, the regional and the national level and we are going to introduce an attendance register to ensure that each and every employee has a schedule of duties and also to ensure that each employee adheres to the Staff Performance Appraisal System,” stated Ruku.
“So long as you are paid a salary from monies which the government collects from the people of Kenya, you are supposed to take responsibility and be in the office during the stipulated time,” he added.
The Cabinet Secretary spoke in Nyeri County on Tuesday after making an impromptu visit to the Central Regional Headquarters in the offices.
Apart from the Huduma Centre and the Teachers Service Commission offices, a majority of the state department offices that are housed within the Regional Commissioner’s compound were closed at 8 am when the CS made his rounds.
During his tour, Ruku also noted that whereas interns and students on attachment reported to work early, government employees formed the biggest bulk of latecomers.
While cautioning the government employees of dire consequences for failing to take their work seriously, the CS said that it was sad that despite allocating financial resources to the state departments to boost service delivery, the government may now be forced to spend additional taxpayers’ money supervising officers who fail to perform their duties.
“Moving forward, we are also going to take further steps as the Ministry in charge of human capital development in all ministries and state departments because the president is committed and he is calling on all of us as civil servants to ensure we do the right thing and those who are not ready to do the right thing we are going to take the necessary steps,” stated the CS.
The CS urged the civil servants to create an enabling environment that will inspire local and foreign investors to set up shop in Kenya.
He said inefficiencies in the public services delivery are partly to blame for low investor confidence as well as the deteriorating public confidence of Kenyans in the current administration.
“We are running a government and this government can only work through you (civil servants). The people to deliver services are not the President alone or the Cabinet Secretaries alone; it is all the public servants. It is the public servants who are going to create an enabling environment for our businesses to thrive,” stated Ruku.
Ruku has nonetheless called for support from the Regional and County Commissioners’ offices to ensure that public servants perform their duties diligently.
By Wangari Mwangi and Christine Mumbi
