Public servants should emulate Kiyiapi and go

Presidential candidate James ole Kiyiapi on Monday resigned from as permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, to free himself to pursue his political interests.

Since elections are still months away, going by the High Court ruling that pushed the date to March next year, the former PS could hve held on to office had he so wished.

However, he chose to quit, which is commendable given that it was no longer tenable for him to continue working when his heart was elsewhere.

Several other civil servants have expressed interest in various political offices and have plunged into serious campaigns. Such campaigns are rigorous, time-consuming, energy-sapping and expensive.

Clearly, one cannot engage in campaigns and purport to be serving the public.

Indeed, if one was to do an audit on their productivity, it would not be surprising to find that most of these people have not been working.

Most stay away from office as they criss-cross the country or domicile themselves within their counties trying to popularise themselves.

Quite often, they use State resources, including vehicles, to do politics. While in office, they have to entertain delegations of voters, meaning they spend a lot of time on non-core businesses.

Nobody begrudges civil servants the right to pursue politics. That is a choice and a constitutional right. But leadership is about honesty, fairness and good sense.

And this is most pronounced when the country is looking for a new breed of leaders who can restore dignity to statecraft.

When, as it is apparent, that most of them are not applying themselves to the task they are engaged to do, it is only fair that they quit and concentrate their energies on their ambitions.