KSG chief urges public servants to embrace AI or be rendered redundant

KSG Director General Prof Nura Mohamed [centre] speaks at Kenya School of Government office in Mombasa. September 25, 2026. [Omondi Onyango, Standard]

Public servants who do not want to learn how to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their daily work will soon become irrelevant.

Kenya School of Government (KSG)Director General Prof Nura Mohamed said it was bad for those who refuse to embrace AI as they will be automatically replaced by the technology, which has become a reality of society.

“If you do not want to use AI, you will be irrelevant in your workplace because technology is a reality in life and also a threat to all jobs in the civil service,” said Mohamed.

He said this yesterday at the KSG Mombasa while addressing 116 civil servants who had completed their six- month training on various management levels.

Mohamed said civil servants must use AI as it will improve services in their areas of operations.

"To address the effects of AI in the civil service, the government has introduced a regional centre of competence for digital skilling and AI for the public service to help in building capacity of public service on utilisation of AI to support them in their daily work," he stated.

He explained how the government had introduced specialisation in the government system where there are AI for human resource management, AI for finance, AI for procurement, AI for administration, AI for chief executives and AI for ICT.

“What I say is that all jobs in public service are under threat by the growing use of AI in every sector of the government. As such, you must change or you will remain irrelevant,” he said.

He asked managers in the civil service to be strategic leaders who must be able to navigate uncertainty, make difficult choices, align the people and resources around priorities and build institutions that will perform beyond their tenure in office.

“As manager, you are where policy, people, resources and implementation meet. Your decisions and leadership directly influence institutional performance,” he noted.

He said today’s leadership must understand how technology is reshaping the public service.

Digital transformation, data and artificial intelligence are changing how institutions operate, how decisions are informed and how citizens interact with the government.

"Technology does not, by itself, transform institutions. Leaders do. Technology can improve a process, but leaders must determine whether that process is solving the right problem. Data can inform decisions, but leaders must exercise judgment. AI can augment institutional capability, but for public decisions, it remains with public leaders,” said Mohamed.

He said to do all this, a public servant requires more than technical competence and must make strategic judgment grounded in ethics

"We need leaders with strategic judgment, ethical grounding, systems thinking, adaptability and a clear understanding of the public value they are expected to create,” said Mohamed.

He said the leadership of individuals was measured by what happens after he or she has left the scene.

“Your leadership will be measured by what happened because you were there,” he added.