Mr President, just fire non performing Cabinet Secretaries

President Uhuru Kenyatta addressing the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs forum at Strathmore University on October 16 [Beverlyne Musili, Standard]

The president leaned forward, grasping the podium, as if to support himself. Those versed in his body language braced themselves for the onslaught. It came as a barrage of words, like the staccato fire of a machine-gun, causing the recipients to cower.

Speaking at Strathmore University during Small and Medium Business Enterprises (SMEs) Presidential Roundtable Conference, the president dumped his official speech in favour of his withering off-the cuff broadside against his lieutenants. He spared none of the Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) present, accusing them and other government officials of sleeping on the job and making it difficult for him to fulfill his promises to Kenyans.

But it is hardly surprising that the president has sank into an insuperable pessimism over his CSs. From the onset, these public servants were primed for failure. Whilst the zeitgeist of this constitutional dispensation had dictated a lean and efficient cabinet, Kenya now has 23 CSs and a slew of Chief Administrative Secretaries whose functions are nebulous.

The criteria of curation of CSs exposes self-inflicted harm by the appointing authority. For starters, it appears to be informed by party and ethnic considerations, precluding the selection process from a wider pool of talent. Even in the event of the demise of a CS or government official, the search for replacement is limited to the same ethnic group as the departed, to the exclusion of better qualified people.

Party hawks

Second, the constitution requires that CSs be appointed from the ranks of professionals outside the political pool. This is to ensure that affairs of the state are undertaken by competent managers who have had a stint in running corporations, an understanding of handling of big budgets, and most importantly, an ability to make tough decisions in the absence of politically induced pressure.

Currently, most of the CSs are failed politicians who did not make the cut in national elections, or party hawks whose sole preoccupation appears to be the advancement of a partisan agenda. Even where CSs have been hired from the private sector, they do not appear to be public-spirited nor do they have a background of altruism.

In the absence of these, it becomes difficult to gauge the real reason they would leave the private sector where emoluments are in millions, to take up relatively lowly-paid jobs in public service. Going by the recent arrest of past CSs and other government officials for misappropriation of state funds, one can only surmise that perhaps there is a financial element that acts as a lure.

CSs also appear to derive their self-worth from the trappings of state power and not from a good job well done. In Kenya today, it is not uncommon to be bullied off the road by ministerial motorcades, complete with motor-cycle outriders, clearing the road for a CS who is behind schedule. Many of them have drivers, body-guards, personal assistants and fleets of cars at their disposal, adding to the expense of running government. These expenses seldom transform into service delivery for tax-payers.

Closed doors

As much as the CSs deserve to be censured for failing in their duties, it is the fact that they received a public dress-down that has elicited social chatter.  Many people are uncomfortable with a boss who berates his troops in the open, preferring that house-keeping issues be done within closed doors.  One cannot surely expect a CSs denuded of every strand of dignity to perform optimally. If anything, such open displays of pique have the unintended consequences of undermining the very public confidence the president seeks to engender in civil servants. Moreover, the buck stops with the president. Any failures by public servants are a direct reflection of his administration.

Whilst there is a need for a reticent approach in dealing with government functionaries, CSs whose actions are inimical to the well-being of the country should be dealt with decisively by being shown the door. Hitherto, their flaws have been tolerated to the point where their offices no longer evince the hopes and aspirations of Kenyans.

The cookie-cutter approach of selecting public servants from one lump of ethnic and partisan dough should be discarded for a broad national approach that seeks the best. The government has been supine in the face of accusations of non-inclusion. It should now rise above, or risk consigning its citizens permanently to congenital misery!

Mr Khafafa is Vice Chairman, Kenya-Turkey Business Council