Waiguru welcomes EACC proposals for NYS overhaul
What you need to know:
- The Cabinet Secretary said there were cases of inadequate staff that should be looked at to improve service delivery.
- She said she did not know the problem was that bad when she requested for the assessment in May 2014.
- Ms Waiguru was addressing the media after receiving the report from the EACC Chief Executive Officer Halakhe Waqo and Deputy Secretary Michael Mubea.
Devolution Secretary Anne Waiguru on Monday welcomed proposals for a complete overhaul of the National Youth Service to transform its operations.
Ms Waiguru said she has no choice but to comply with the far-reaching recommendations from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
“The recommendations are tough. There is (a) need for a complete overhaul of the processes and systems we need to automate, in terms of revenue collection to see how to build a human resource capacity,” she said.
The Cabinet secretary said there were cases of inadequate staff that should be reviewed to improve services.
“There are cases where one or two staff are doing functions that should be done by four people,” Ms Waiguru said.
She addressed the media after receiving the report from EACC Chief Executive Officer Halakhe Waqo and Deputy Secretary Michael Mubea at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies.
FOUR-WEEK TIMELINE
Ms Waiguru expressed optimism that the ministry would beat the four-week timeline the commission had given the National Youth Service (NYS) to implement the recommendations.
“Certainly we don’t have a choice. It has to be done. It is a big task because NYS is a big institution but, it has to be done,” Ms Waiguru said.
She added that the ministry would have to examine anew all the issues raised in the report and take appropriate corrective measures.
“The recommendations cover diverse areas. We will have to relook at all that completely afresh. I wish we had done that a lot early. Then, we could not have had these problems,” she said.
The Cabinet secretary said she did not know the problem was that bad when she requested the assessment in May 2014.
She pointed out financial management, control of imprests, internal audit and matters to do with revenue collection as the most affected areas.
Mr Waqo said the ministry must share its action plan with the commission after the four weeks. He said the report, if implemented, would help in reforming the NYS.
He said the commission was conducting a similar assessment for other institutions.
