Team recommends transfer of overstayed Lands officials

Government workshop on anti-corruption Saturday recommended the transfer of all civil servants who have served for at least 10 years in their work stations in the ministry of Lands.

The stringent measures aimed at addressing graft in the ministry also demanded that all civil servants who had not taken their leave should proceed with effect from Monday.

The resolutions were contained in a presentation on the working group on land at the government workshop on anti-corruption that ended on Saturday at KIA.

The KWS director, Mr Julius Kipngetich, who chaired the working group that came up with the resolutions called for transfer of all officials in Job Group K-P who he said facilitated corruption in the ministry.

The working group on Land was the only one that came up with a time frame for all their recommendations.

The other groups, including that on local authorities, were turned back for failing to come up with timelines for their recommendations.

The head of civil service, Mr Francis Muthaura, extended Saturday’s session till 6 p.m. to allow the other groups finalise their recommendations on various sectors of the economy.

The working group on land noted that sending civil servants on leave and transferring those who had served in their stations for too long did not involve any expenditure.

The minister for Public Service, Mr Dalmas Otieno, who was present during the plenary session noted that previous reform measures proposed in the ministry of Lands had been met with threats.

“Land is an emotive issues and involves almost 95 per cent of Kenyans,” the minister said, noting that it was necessary to protect the officials involved.

He said the reform measures proposed by the working group could destroy careers, wind up corporate entities and destroy companies but the government was ready to back them.

He asked the Commissioner of Police and head of civil service to provide security for the officials involved as they embarked on implementing the proposals.

“We want these influential people to extend their energies elsewhere,” the minister said.

Other radical proposals made by the working group included the annulling of all the minutes of special lands boards.

The group said the special lands board were used to disinherit many families in the country.

The group said all that was needed to annul the minutes was to put them in the Kenya Gazette.

And Mr Otieno encourages government ministries to make government offices implement the “Open Office Policy”.

He lauded the PS in the ministry of Agriculture, Dr Romano Kiome, for implementing the policy at Kilimo House where civil servants now worked in the open.

Ministries cautioned

He, however, cautioned ministries not to rush to implement the policy at the same time as it could lead to a financial crunch in government.

“Since it is not expensive, you should implement the policy in stages,” he told the workshop.

He said the Open Office Policy was one of the ways of eliminating corruption in the civil service.

The minister said the government would use punishment as the last resort in dealing with corruption.