Jeff Otieno And Lucas Barasa
20 May 2008
Nairobi — Kenya's best and worst performing ministries were named in an official report released on Monday.
The Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services was cited as the best performing ministry in the last financial year.
According to the latest evaluation on the performance of public agencies, the ministry, which was headed by former Starehe MP Maina Kamanda for most of the period under review, topped the list of 38 ministries. It scored a mean aggregate of 2.1936 in a composite score range of between one and five.
Excellent
A score of one represents excellent while five is poor.
The ministries of Regional Development and Special Programmes came second and third in the list.
Mr Mahmoud Mohammed and Labour Minister John Munyes held the portfolios respectively.
The ministries were reviewed between June 2006 and June 2007 - the Government's financial year - but results which were to be released in October last year were withheld due to the General Election campaigns. Later, the post-election violence also delayed it.
Others in the top 10 are Energy, Housing, Home Affairs, Heritage, Health, Immigration and Registration of Persons and Justice and Constitutional Affairs, in that order.
They were rated top after meeting targets set for them in contracts which were signed by their respective ministers and Permanent secretaries.
For parastatals, the chief executive officers signed the contracts, which were used to grade them on a scale designed by a committee in the Office of the President.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was named the worst performing ministry.
Others at the bottom 10 out of 37 ministries that were evaluated under performance contracting are Local Government, Trade and Industry, Water, Public Service Commission, Roads and Public Works, Livestock and Fisheries, Environment and Natural Resources, Planning and National Development and State Law office.
The poorest
Though they were rated as the poorest, they nonetheless fell in the category of good performance as they missed their targets by a whisker.
Kenyatta University scooped the best State corporation award, as Nyayo Tea Zones and Kenya Wines Agencies emerged second and third respectively.
Among Local Authorities, Nairobi City Council was the winner, followed by Chuka and Bungoma county councils.
And President Kibaki, who together with Prime Minister Raila Odinga were chief guests during the release of the Performance Evaluation Results, had good news for workers in the three best institutions: Top performers in the institutions will receive incentives for motivation.
"I wish to announce that my government will begin to roll out an incentives system based on the results that will be released today (Monday) to reward excellent performance," he said.
The Head of State directed Finance minister Amos Kimunya to provide incentives to public servants in ministries, departments and public institutions which do not generate revenue.
"I have further directed the Minister for Finance to authorise revenue generating public institutions to pay their performing employees on basis of a formula which has been developed by the Ministry of Finance," the President said.
He added that all public institutions must comply with the new system to ensure equal incentives for equal performance irrespective of whether a public institution is generating revenue, regulating or giving service.
The citizen's service delivery charter will be cascaded to grassroots public institutions for effective delivery of services, the President said.
Praising civil servants for their hard work, the President said the Government does not take their service for granted and it was committed to complete harmonisation of their salaries which began in 2002. He said civil servants salary increased by 127 per cent between 2003 and 2007.
"We are also presenting a challenge as well as a reminder to those public service managers whose performance remains below acceptable levels that the taxpayer cannot continue to sustain them in office," he said and called for efficiency of public service institutions.
Unfortunately the former Sports minister was absent to celebrate his achievement as he is no longer in government.
Mr Kamanda was defeated by evangelist Bishop Margaret Wanjiru in the last General Election, although he has filed a petition against the cleric's election.
The mother ministry that scooped the top position has since been split into two to accommodate more ministers under the bloated grand coalition government.
The award was received by the Minister for Gender and Children's Affairs, Mrs Esther Mathenge.
The ministry toppled that of Agriculture, which had scooped the top position in the previous financial year. The ministry formerly headed by Mr Kipruto Kirwa dropped to position 25 in the latest study and was mentioned for its major decline scoring a mean of 2.4604.
The Agriculture ministry is now headed by Eldoret North MP William Ruto who was present at the function.
The Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services ministry was feted for its efforts in improving the welfare of sportsmen in the country and also spearheading gender reforms in the civil service.
The Ministry for Regional Development formerly headed by Minister Mohammed Abdi closely followed scoring 2.1975. Mr Abdi also missed out in the celebration, for like Kamanda, he lost his parliamentary seat in the General Election.
The Ministry of Special Programmes, currently headed by Dr Naomi Shaban, scooped the third position with an aggregate score of 2.2466. At the time when the evaluation process was done, it was headed by Mr John Munyes who is now the Minister for Labour.
Famine crisis
One of the achievements by the ministry was the handling of the famine crisis which hit several parts of the country in the previous financial year.
It successfully spearheaded the international appeal for food donations and helped in its distribution. The ministry currently has a tough task of coordinating the resettlement of the internally displaced persons.
All the top three ministries were awarded trophies by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga. However, none of the 37 ministries or departments evaluated achieved the mean aggregate score of one, a mark for excellence.
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