Musalia Mudavadi: I don't support public servants' contracts

Amani National Congress party leader Musalia Mudavadi responds to your questions.

1 Since the advent of devolution, the health sector has been plagued by one industrial unrest after another. All this has hampered healthcare delivery. The medical fraternity maintains that the establishment of a central national body (Health Service Commission) to handle all the human resources for health is the solution to these challenges. Do you support the creation of such a commission?

Dr Stanley Aruyaru, Nyeri

A commission is not a solution to what ails the heath sector. A commission will just be another bureaucratic layer to confound the current problems in the sector. The problem is that the health sector has not been devolved the way it is envisaged in the Constitution.

What happened during assignment of functions was that unscrupulous business interests that have traditionally benefitted from huge tenders in a centralised government system have stood in the way of devolution of the health sector.

They have used all manner of tricks to ensure that devolution does not work in this sector.

This includes both frustrating and inciting workers so that they can have it their way. Resources, therefore, never followed functions as required; personnel were dumped at counties without the attendant resources. This is what has sown the seeds of discord we see today.

This is why the health ministry still retains a huge budget when its role has been reduced to policy and to three national referral hospitals. It should bother you, Dr Aruyaru, that almost all health procurement is centralised in the national ministry in Nairobi, when this is not its function.

For instance, what business does the ministry have in procuring the scandalous billions-worth of leased medical equipment for counties without even the basic courtesy of showing them the contract documents five years after the procurement? What about the Sh800 million-worth of rotting ‘mobile clinics’ at Maritini NYS depot in Mombasa.

2 The main aim of having the Senate was to oversight county governments and safeguard devolution. Now that a lot of plunder of public resources is taking place in the counties, do we still need the Senate?

Samuel P. G Karanja, Nakuru County

Again, our redemption lies in fidelity to the Constitution. The first line of the county executive oversight is actually the county assembly and not the Senate. Yet, the Senate has the responsibility of oversight for both the county executive and the county assembly. There is, therefore, a legal conundrum that needs correcting. The fault line lies in the legal gap on who should have the first bite at oversight of the county executive. Meanwhile, the Senate has filled an oversight void that has been vacated by assemblies through trade-ins with county executives.

But more fundamentally, we need to revert to the original Bomas constitution draft and redefine and restore Senate as the Upper House before it was wilted at the Naivasha negotiations. The Senate needs to be strengthened rather than deleted.

Were we to mislead ourselves to abolish the Senate, we would be just a step away from reverting to a centralised system of government. Not many Kenyans want to go that route. They are not ready to throw away the baby with the bathwater.

3 Sir, you have been a lone ranger in calling for the reforming of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), especially as it prepares to carry out crucial tasks before the 2022 General Election. Recently, the commission suffered a setback when the court stopped the recruitment of the CEO due to perceived irregularities. Do these events reinforce your position for IEBC reform ahead of 2022?

Komen Moris, Eldoret

I am grateful you see the logical conclusion I reached long ago that IEBC in its current state is irredeemable and a national security risk. As long as IEBC remains dysfunctional, there will never be electoral justice in Kenya and the outcome of elections will always be contentious and a security threat to the nation.

Just like I have said time and again, I will be the last man standing in the opposition, if need be. I am equally not worried about being the alone-standing man who wants sanity in our electoral system.

4 You have worked under two arms of government in past administrations, (Parliament and the executive) including being a Vice President. The Public Service Commission has indicated that it intends to employ public servants on contractual terms beginning July 1, 2019. Do you think this move will help reduce some of the challenges bedevilling public service?

Komen Moris, Eldoret

Government is about service. Public service work ethic is about placing yourself at the service of fellow citizens. Public service is also the training ground for private sector human resource. Indeed, employment in public service is also a service being provided by government to its people.

Therefore, a certain cadre of civil servants must of necessity work under permanent and pensionable (P&P) terms to ensure continuity and stability in service.

The greatest challenge is how you could win over the commitment of this cadre if they are put on three-year contracts. A country can never afford a demoralised public service. Contracts will mean a very heavy turnover every other three years; yet we would not have created employment opportunities outside government, a three-year looting binge will occur.

I am aware that the government is facing the challenge of paying massive pensions that are due, as well as a heavy wage bill. But contracts have inbuilt heavy gratuity payments that may even surpass pension dues.

The contract approach cannot therefore reduce the wage bill or solve the pensions surge. In any case, those on P&P are low cadre staff whose impact on pensions and wages is minimal. If the government means well, contracts should only be applied to specialised technical areas whose skill application impact is predetermined.

5 As ANC party leader, what difference will you bring if we elected you to lead the nation?

Yona Mugo

I want to bring the rule of law, honesty and truth in leadership. I want to bring merit and fairness in the management of government business. Ours is going to be a meritocracy. People will be where they are because of merit and nothing more. I am going to eradicate corruption by punishing those who deserve to be punished, regardless of who they may be.

6 In 2017 you shelved your presidential ambitions for the sake of opposition unity. Would you be willing to do the same in 2022?

Edwin Masika, Kitale

Edwin, don’t you think 2002, 2007 and 2017 is just about enough of shelving my ambition in favour of my brothers? I am asking Kenyans to elect me as President of the Republic. I hope you will join me on this journey.

7 What is your take on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) and do you see it delivering its promises of uniting the country? What is your take on claims that the ‘handshake’ and BBI are targeting certain politicians?

Githuku Mungai

My hope has been that the BBI could be expanded — devolved so to speak — from being patronised by two leaders only to other significant leaders so that we can all push for an inclusive agenda and carry the aspirations of Kenyans with us together.

The fear is that should either of the two patrons change his mind, the BBI will collapse. This is akin to holding the country hostage. Why should the country depend on the whims of two individuals?

Meanwhile, the apprehension BBI is causing in some quarters is partly a result of this personalised nature of the initiative. However, I have seen nothing in BBI to suggest it is targeting any specific politician for political annihilation. Any politician who is suspicious that the BBI is targeting them is suffering from a pathological sense of entitlement.

8 What right, if any, do the affiliates of the moribund Nasa have to claim any share of the billions recently awarded to ODM by the courts?

Dr Odidi D. Owiti, Lodwar

The rights reside in both the Cord and Nasa agreements. In business terms, you cannot accept liabilities for a defunct firm, and refuse to pay dividends to partners in an ongoing concern.

9 As a former Finance minister, what austerity measures would you recommend to the Jubilee administration to manage the skyrocketing wage bill?

Joshua Ochieng Owuor, Machakos County

Looked at from a global level, there is a skyrocketing wage bill. However, real earnings of civil servants remain extremely very low yet it isn’t like Kenya cannot afford to pay its government employees a comfortable living wage. It is just that government priorities are misplaced. If we stopped stealing and sinking expensive loans in unproductive cash kiting projects, there would be no talk about a high wage bill.

Jubilee should call a halt to corruption by establishing a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to advice on how to bring out the truth on stolen public money and close theft loopholes.

10 How are you responding to opposition from eminent Luhya leaders like Bonny Khalwale to your party's ongoing grassroots mobilisation efforts?

Njenga Micugu, Juja

I know of no Luhya leader who is opposed to unity of purpose for the community.

11 Which national issues does the ANC party feel will give it a competitive edge in the run-up to 2022?

Njenga Micugu, Juja

A strong pro-people economic agenda to relieve Kenyans of punitive taxation and high cost of living; a no-holds barred anti-corruption putsch; open and honest leadership; and purposeful implementation of devolution.

12 You served as Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government minister in the National Coalition government between 2008 and 2013. By virtue of that ministerial position, you can rightly be accused of doing very little to protect and safeguard the properties and assets of defunct local authorities as they were transiting to the devolved system. Kindly explain your take on this matter.

Dan Murugu, Nakuru

I confirm that I was privileged to lead the country in enacting devolution laws. But no, Mr Murugu, I did not let the country down in the mandate I was given by the Cabinet. Despite the limited period of 2011-2012, all necessary devolution laws were enacted as required by the new Constitution.

To help implement devolution post-2013 elections, safeguard properties of local authorities, a Transitional Authority (TA) was established ‘to facilitate and co-ordinate the transition to the devolved system of government as provided under section 15 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.’ Specifically, TA mandate was to audit assets of local authorities.

My sincere regret is that by the time TA mandate expired, it had failed in assets and liabilities auditing and transfer, and rationalisation of human resource between the two levels of governments. These issues are still in limbo despite the existence of the Inter-Governmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC), the successor to TA.

In retrospect, part of the limitations of the TA, and even IGRTC, was the composition. It was largely made up of national government operatives who were more centralists and hostile to devolution. That problem still persists under the County Government Co-ordinating Summit, incidentally chaired by the President.

13 As a Nasa principal, would you say Mr Raila Odinga betrayed the coalition when he went behind your backs to negotiate with the President when your team was strategising on how to confront Jubilee after the sham 2017 polls?

Josiah Oyula, Busia County

The first part of this question should be left to Hon Raila Odinga. Regarding our strategy into the future, we cannot seriously discuss strategy in the press. It will no longer be a strategy. But you will catch up with it as we roll it out.