Machakos DG Francis Mwangangi feted in Ghana

Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi has been feted for his leadership in public service and for standing out among young leaders with the potential to impact the African continent positively.

The Winners received the African Public Service Optimum Awards at a ceremony held in Accra, Ghana.

The awards recognise professionals in public institutions, agencies, and state-owned enterprises, who through their work, are driving Africa's ongoing socioeconomic renaissance to enable the continent to take its position as an equal partner in the global community.

The African Public Service Optimum Organisation (APSO) AWARDS Secretariat Chief Executive Officer Baroness Paulette Kpopo said the agency relies on research and expert analyses, guided by established criteria to identify our award winners.

"Peculiarities of public office, which differ from one African country to the other are considered at this stage. Qualitative decision-making superseded quantitative assessment, deliberately done to eliminate the most significant distortions emerging due to prior quantitative-led assessments," he said.

The award aims to arm public servants with the best capacity for further service and use them as a focus point for improved public service across Africa.

Mr Mwangangi said in an interview with The Standard that winners of the award are picked through a diligent process that ensures recipients are leaders of integrity, who are not corrupt and who practice ethical leadership.

The awards are organised by a team of global and regional agencies, including the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Union, USAID, and the African Union.

Public service professionals in elective positions, state corporations, the executive, judiciary, and civil society who have demonstrated transformational leadership and showed futuristic thinking in their agendas qualify for the awards.

"For the elected leaders, they seek to establish your level of engagement with the people you lead and if your decisions are based on public participation and interactive leadership as opposed to the top-down leadership model that is dominant in Africa," said Mr Mwangangi.

The Machakos deputy governor said he did not apply for the award.

He was surprised by the letter sent to the County Secretary, who handed it to Governor Wavinya Ndeti before receiving it.

He said that the multilateral groups were seeking to identify a crop of transformative leaders in the continent who are keen on improving the lives of the people they serve without getting involved in corruption or integrity issues in their leadership.

"These multilateral institutions and agencies, spend billions of dollars in the continent in an attempt to change people's lives and they want to build a team of people who are keen on good governance and therefore ready to take the continent to new heights in their positive leadership," he said.

Winners of the awards could lose them if they regress and get involved in corrupt practices during their term in leadership.

"They expect you to be a paragon of good virtues, including an ethical life, corruption-free, interactive in your leadership, and a life full of integrity.

Mr Mwangangi is the only elected leader from East Africa who won the award. "The Council of Governors to check on if I met the threshold of good leadership standards before a final decision was made."

The vetting process takes up to one and a half years and involves a team of researchers covertly assigned to investigate candidates.