Report ranks Uhuru, Ruto offices low on services

A report by the Public Service Commission on the performance of the government has shown that at least five ministries, including the Office of the President and Deputy President, are offering poor services.

The 2016/17 PSC Evaluation Report lists the ministries of Tourism (Najib Balala), Sports Arts and Culture (Hassan Wario), Environment (Judi Wakhungu), Land (Jacob Kaimenyi), Water (Eugene Wamalwa) and Transport (James Macharia) as among the worst performers.

A majority of the ministries have an approval rating of above average.

EVALUATED

Incidentally, Dr Wario, Prof Wakhungu and Prof Kaimenyi were among the ministers who were dropped during the cabinet changes early this year.

The Office of Cabinet Affairs, which is under the presidency, received the second lowest approval rating of 50 per cent while that of the Deputy President only achieved a rating of 48 per cent, making it the worst performer.

Of the 37 ministries and state departments evaluated, only one was in the high achievers category, representing three per cent of the total number. Another 21 – about 57 per cent – were in the medium achievers category while 15 (40 per cent) – are low achievers.

“The report lays the foundation for future evaluations in which organisations will be held accountable based on the commitments they make. The findings will inform policy interventions by the government in furtherance of ensuring a value-based and ethical public service,” the report says.

ETHICS

In the ministries’ category, the Department of Arts and Culture was the least ranked, having attained a percentage of 53, followed by that of Environment at 55, Land and Physical Planning at (55), Tourism (55) and water Services at 57 per cent.

The ministries were evaluated on 10 areas of high standards of professional ethics, good governance, efficiency, accountability, equitable allocation of resources and public participation.

FISHERIES

The Department of Fisheries and Blue Economy was the best performing at 81.8 per cent, followed by Energy (80.5) and Irrigation Services at 78.7 per cent.

Overall, the leading service sector was statutory commissions and authorities with a score of 75 per cent, followed by state corporations and semi-autonomous government agencies with 72 per cent.

These two recorded an improved performance of six per cent.

TWO THIRDS

“Independent offices and commissions sector was ranked third with a score of 71 per cent while ministries and state departments recorded a score of 63 per cent,” says the report.

The evaluation targeted four service sectors namely, ministries and state departments, constitutional commissions and independent offices, state corporations and semi-autonomous government agencies and statutory commissions and authorities.

Further findings revealed that a majority of the public organisations evaluated complied with the two thirds gender principle, but were advised to improve gender parity to 50 per cent.

HUMAN RIGHTS

“In addition, it was established that various legislative frameworks, systems, structures and measures have been put in place to support the espousal of the values and principles in the public service,” says the report.

In the category of independent offices and commissions, the best institution was the Commission on Revenue Allocation at 84 per cent, followed by Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (75.7) and Controller of Budget at 75 per cent.

On inclusivity, the Department of Interior’s Directorate of Immigration and Registration of Persons were rated the best and with the highest number of diverse ethnic communities in public service of 39 and 36 communities respectively.

LOW ACHIEVERS

The State Department for Social Protection and that of Land and Physical Planning tied at number five with a representation of 32.

In the state corporations and semi-autonomous government agencies category with 114 public institutions, 25 were categorised as high achievers, 71 medium while 18 were low achievers.

And for the nine independent offices and commissions category, one institution was ranked as high achiever while eight (89 per cent) were in the medium category.

In the statutory commissions and authorities category, one out of the four was ranked as high achiever while three were medium.

TRANSPARENCY

An analysis of the individual performance of the institutions on the ten thematic areas showed that statutory commissions and state corporations were the best across almost all sectors.

For instance, an overall assessment of the institutions on high standard services ranked statutory commissions and authorities as the best performers at 89 per cent, followed by state corporations and semi-autonomous government agencies at 78 per cent.

The least performing sectors were independent offices and commissions and ministries and state departments at 71 and 66 per cent respectively.

On good governance, transparency and accountability, the best performing sector was statutory commissions and authorities at 100 per cent followed by state corporations and semi-autonomous government agencies with 91.2 per cent.

EFFICIENCY

Independent offices and commissions came third at 88.9 per cent while ministries and state departments recorded a score of 81.1 per cent.

On diversity, the best performing sector was statutory commissions and authorities at 69.7 per cent, followed by state corporations and semi-autonomous government agencies 67.8 per cent.

“Independent offices and commissions recorded a score of 66.3 per cent while ministries and State departments recorded 59.6 per cent,” the report adds.

Independent offices and commissions were ranked the best on efficiency, effectiveness and economic use of resources at 81.3 per cent, followed by statutory commissions and authorities at 75 per cent.

OPPORTUNITIES

State corporations, ministries and state departments scored 68 and 67 per cent respectively.

Statutory commissions and institutions scooped the topped on on equitable allocation of opportunities and resources with a score of 87.5 per cent, followed by independent offices and commissions at 83.3 per cent.

State Corporations scored 80 per cent while ministries and State departments had 77.7 per cent.

On accountability, State corporations had 63 per cent while independent offices and commissions were at 75 per cent.

“Statutory commissions and authorities had a score of 71.9 per cent while ministries and State departments had a score of 66.2 per cent.

Ministries and state departments recorded a score of 37.3 per cent while statutory commissions and authorities had 35 per cent.