Transform the civil service to make the nation competitive

When I read in the newspapers, “Job cuts, lean times await civil servants” (The Standard, June 23), I recall the words of Aristotle, the Greek philosopher. In his Politics, Aristotle said the state was a natural development, because man is by nature a political animal, as he is a social creature with the power of speech, socialisation and moral reason. The state can be a means for glory and good life of society, people.

What Aristotle didn’t say is that, “Man is an innovative, administrative animal.” This is so because no nation can advance politically, economically, technologically or even militarily, unless it also develops higher-level managerialism, administered by meritorious, core picket fence of civil servants.

The performance of any government or organisation depends on the quality of its people who work for it. Arguably the highest and most civilised form of government is political, democratic government that has three co-equal arms of state: the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. Despite having all these structures, a vibrant Constitution and Vision 2030 to boot, we have problems making Kenya great and citizens happier. Why is this so?

Scholars observed that the elephant can represent a symbol of a large, cumbersome, lumbering being, yet an elephant can run very fast. Even the blue whale can race faster. State organisations have virtually an archetypical status as cumbersome bungling entities, yet some perform very well. What then are holding back many governmental organisations to “gallop faster” and deliver effectively their respective missions? Keen observers of the country’s progress have cited two challenges of excellence in public sector management which if not addressed would continue to drag our progress towards achieving the Big Four Agenda, Vision 2030 and devolution.

First, weak personal and institutional values contribute to public complaints about inadequacies of public employees. Many public managers and staff appear not to have strong beliefs in the five “Es,” enthusiasm, ethics, efficiency, effectiveness and economy as they discharge their duties daily.

The second challenge for public servants is achieving inspiring leadership and competitive technical competencies and getting the confidence of key stakeholders. The entire mission of public servants is to service line management and jointly make the country work better. Yes, the three most miserable, boring words in the English language may be “malnutrition, illiteracy and hopelessness.” And miserable, boring causes don’t get addressed without solid body of civil servants, with highly structured skills development and leadership pipeline schemes in place.

We are living in the age of devolution. Majority of Kenyans are more informed of their rights and expectations. There is therefore urgent need to transform, train public servants and re-invent governments to perform better and be cost effective. The Public Service Commission, Counties Public Service Boards, Teachers Service Commission and all others are right. There is need for merit based system of recruitment, promotions and deployment of civil servants. Kenya School of Government should provide its expertise, knowledge and training here as needed.

Citizens require inspired public servants that would guide the nation to sidestep the crossfire in today’s turbulent world, civil servants who are advocates of their respective fields of work. Public servants who, as we used to say in the Kenya Defense Forces, “who hold the faith, who keep fit and competent, who obey the laws and follow the rules and who place the nation and Kenyans first.” This is only possible with re-engineered, transformed civil service.

- The writer is a strategic management consultant based in Nairobi.