Kenya government shuffles 7,000 officers to curb corruption

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich addressing the media on situation of Banking sector in the country on 08/04/16 PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE

The Government has announced a major shake-up in accounting and procurement departments across all ministries, leading to transfers of more than 7,000 staff.

The reshuffle will also affect audit staff, making it the biggest overhaul of the employees who deal with money and tender documents in the central government.

Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich said the redeployment is aimed at breaking cartels in Government and improving efficiency in delivering services.

“We have about 4,000 accountants and more than 3,000 other employees in other departments who will be affected. It will affect all ministries across the board,” Mr Rotich told The Standard yesterday.

Rotich, who spoke on the sidelines of a World Bank workshop on affordable housing in Kenya, said that all affected staff have been asked to report to their new stations latest tomorrow morning.

“We have people who have been at one station for over 35 years and they do not know any other ministry. They have formed cartels and that is what we want to break. I issued the circular two weeks ago and they will be required to report to their new stations by Friday this week,” Rotich said.

For instance, an accountant in the Ministry of Energy will be moved to a different ministry and his position filled by someone from another ministry.

New Stations

According to the circular seen by this paper, the reshuffle will affect all public finance management professionals.

“All affected officers should report to their new stations immediately but not later than April 29,” the circular says.

Treasury is in charge of all Government officials who sit in accounting, procurement and audit departments, which are the most critical in Government expenditure.

This is the latest attempt by the Government to deal with the procurement mess that has seen taxpayers lose billions of shillings through corruption.