New sheriff in town: Head of Public Service firms his grip on parastatals' operations

Head of Public Service Felix Koskei during the launch of a One-Week Technical Study Tour for the South Sudan National Elections Commission at the Kenya School of Government (KSG) Lower Kabete. February 17,2025. [Elvis Ogina ,Standard] A string of instructions from the State House has created a wave of panic in the public service, where over 500 chief executive officers, chairpersons and directors of state parastatals are now in a state of paralysis. The new sheriff in town is Felix Koskei, State House Chief of Staff and head of pubic service, who has directed that all parastatal chiefs, cabinet secretaries and principal secretaries must seek his permission before carrying out some of their statutory functions. They are complaining of operating in a chokehold where boards must submit agendas before meetings and cannot issue gazette notices or policy statements without Koskei's approval The head of Public Service's instructions have heightened anxiety among the chief officers and members of boards who now say they feel like remotely operated ' puppets " as they can no longer discharge their mandate independently. During a tense virtual meeting on Tuesday, Koskei read the riot act to the Principal Secretaries, chairpersons, board members, CEOs, company secretaries, as well as internal auditors of all government agencies and parastatals. The participants were informed that they must henceforth give unfettered access to the State Corporation Advisory Co inspectorate of State Corporations to attend their board meetings. Koskei informed the meeting, where junior, middle-level and top executives had been lumped together, that his office had extensive and overarching powers. He warned," This engagement is far from routine; it is a deliberate response to national concern-a clear message to the people of Kenya that this administration is serious about reversing the decline, and restoring coherence, efficiency, and integrity in the governance of State Corporations.:" He added, " Despite clear legal frameworks and guidance, several recurring governance failures continue to cripple service delivery and compromise institutional integrity across many State Corporations. These failures are not abstract-they are visible, measurable, and increasingly costly to the government programmes. The head of public service accused the procurement entities in state agencies of blatantly 'violating the public procurement Act to inflated pricing, supplier collusion as well as uncompetitive single sourcing.' "Audit reports had revealed repeated award of tenders to politically connected firms-some without valid tax compliance certificates, while others operating without physical offices or registration," observed Koskei To cure this, he directed that beginning July 1 this year, all procurement by state agents will be conducted through a new platform by the National Treasury, Electronic Government ( e-GP). This, he believed, would close these persistent loopholes. The government has automated every stage from planning, tendering, evaluation, award, and payment, consequently eliminating human interference. He also accused the CEOs and boards of disregarding lawful directives and governance protocols within State Corporations during appointments, renewal and extension of CEOs' contracts without the concurrence of the Office of the Chief of Staff and Head of the Public Service. Koskei's approach has thrust his office in the eye of a storm and has been embroiled in a tussle with the University of Nairobi over the apportionment of the Vice Chancellor, a battle which has now spilled over to the courts. The Sunday Standard has established that last month, the head of public service had invited UON's council to State House, where they had a dressing down and were directed on how to conduct the process of hiring the new VC. However, the council, led by Prof. Amukowa Anangwe, defied the instructions and insisted on following the law, a development that led to the appointment of Bitange Ndemo. The battle has since degenerated into Bitange withdrawing his candidature while Anangwe and three others have since been arrested and charged with unrelated alleged crimes. The Sunday Standard has also established that State House has since seized the government seal, previously domiciled in the Attorney General's office, following a protracted war with former AG, Justin Muturi. At the height of the war over the seal in February last year, Muturi told parliament that, the position of the Head of Public Service is not provided for by any Law and the effect of deleting section 28 of the Attorney General Act,2012, would lead to a lacuna whereby the custodian of the Public Seal will remain unknown in the event that the proposed amendments to create office of Head of Public Service does not succeed. During the same period, Public Service Commission's legal adviser Jackline Monami rejected the amendment that would transfer the custody of the Public Seal, saying it would take away: "the approval that is required from the Attorney General before the series are fixed on important government documents for the authentication." A Public Seal is a special symbol mark affixed on important documents to show that they are real and official. The Kenyan Seal is set out in the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the national symbols. It is also found in part nine of Chapter Two of the Constitution on national symbols and national days. The Seal consists of the coat of arms of Kenya set on a grayscale background featuring two lions, a symbol of protection, holding spears and a traditional East African shield. During the Tuesday meeting, the participants were told that as the Administrative Head of the Executive Office of the President, as set out by executive order number Executive Order no 2 of 2023, Koskei was the custodian of the Kenya Public Seal and other instruments of the State for national posterity. His other duties, besides transmitting President Ruto's executive directives and proclamations to ministries, are overseeing the administration of all state corporations and established public entities, as well as facilitating the resolution of operational challenges and major policy concerns as escalated. In addition to universities and parastatals, Koskei has extended his tentacles to all 2,605 Technical vocational education and training institutes, catering for 406,649. This overreach has led to run-ins between Koskei and various government departments. On 21 June 2023, he warned public officers they would be held accountable for corruption that occurs in their area of performance and followed it up with an order for all civil servants with accumulated leave days to spend them. "We have looked at the records and have seen that senior public officials have many unutilised leave days. Annual leave is mandatory and government policy is that you can only carry forward half of your leave days, which is 15 in a year(2023). In this Financial Year, it's only those 15 days that will be carried forward." He would later fire six CEOs and 67 police officers over alleged involvement in corruption and procurement irregularities following recommendations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). While justifying his wide spectrum, Koskei warned the CEOs and PSs of chaos within government, observing due to infighting, " We are seeing cases of Ministries suing their agencies, Agencies suing other parastatals and or Institutions fighting over mandates, assets, or turf." The Intra-agency litigation, Koskei added, was not only costly and Counterproductive but also warned that" This is not governance-it is Chaos. State Kosgey's accusers claim he has been using the State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC) to advance his interests. Currently, Scac is embroiled in a vicious court battle with the Public Service Commission over the recruitment of staff in the parastatals. Several correspondences between the two government agencies bring out the power play as the two seek to control the lucrative human resource department that determines who will be employed. A letter dated December 14, 7 2023, authored by SCAC chairperson Phillip Mong'ony on the advisory on approval of recruitment for State corporations and public universities. The advisory claimed that PSC had been acting in contempt by arrogating to itself powers of the court and directing the National Treasury to note that the SCAC does not have the requisite legal authority to approve Human Resources management instruments and that only PSC has been constitutionally and legally mandated to approve Human Resource Management Instruments. "PSC misinterpreted the advisory of the Attorney General, which is being contested in the High Court, to have conferred a mandate to SCAC over state corporations when in fact the AG was only clarifying matters of law," the advisory read in part. Another letter dated December 5, 2023, by Dr Simon Rotich, for the Public Service Commission to Dr Chris Kiptoo, Principal Secretary, National Treasury, PS,C maintained it had the requisite constitutional and legal mandate to approve human resource instruments in the public service and decried the confusion emanating from the SCAC. "There have been several State Corporations and Public Universities that have been making phone calls to the commission to inquire into the above position as they are now confused as to who between the commission and SCAC approves their human response management instruments thereby hampering efficiency and effectiveness in the public service within State Corporations and Public Universities." The letter read. A number of board chairmen and Chief Executive officers of parastatals who talked to us complained they are forced to carry out certain duties and that there was meddling in procurement and tender processes. "They SCAC work in cahoots with Koskei and are running the State parastatals and their Public universities. We do to exercise our independence, but we are forced to rubber stamp whatever Koskei deems it fit. Our meetings are closely monitored and the outcomes of predetermined," the source added. Former Kemsa board chairperson Irungu Nyakera, who is the immediate KICC chairperson, claimed Koskey threatened to fire him out of Kemsa, which he allegedly did after he turned down his instructions not to fire one of the directors involved in the procurement irregularity. According to Nyakera, his tiff with Koskei started over the appointment of a director whom the board had rejected. "When the names of the directors were forwarded from the National Treasury, we forwarded the same to the National Intelligence and we were advised not to pick his name, However, Koskei bulldozed and forced us to accept his name. He was involved in procurement irregularities and after an audit, we removed him. Koskei vowed that he would oversee my sacking," Nyakre said. As a result of State interference, Nyakera said one of the directors resigned, adding that most of the parastatals act under the whims of Koskei, who ratifies every decision before it is put into action.

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