Public servants urged to leverage innovation for better service provision

As we celebrate Africa Public Service Day, Kenyan public servants have been asked to take advantage of innovation in order to give better services.

Kennedy Kihara, Liaison at the Office of the President, said that as the times pass by, service provision had to change to suit the needs of the changing population.

“With innovative ideas, we can create a dedicated public service that fulfils the needs of its citizens. That is the only reason it exists, to deliver quality services,” he said.

Kihara was speaking during the launch of a Public Service Exhibition at the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) on Tuesday.

He said that the primary focus of public service should be the results of the service provider to Kenyans.

“We must continue to ask ourselves what kind of public service we need to properly serve our people.”

“We can't keep pretending to serve the people when we are also predators of our people,” he warned.

He asked that public servants continue to be guided by ethical values on which the service is founded and to guard the values jealously.

Public Service and Gender Cabinet Administrative Secretary Rachael Shebesh said that the Covid-19 pandemic forced the public service sector to be innovative in its approaches.

“Entities like the National Youth Service had to adapt quickly to manufacture masks locally to provide masks to Kenyans,” she said.

Representing the Cabinet Secretary, Prof Margaret Kobia, the CAS said that she hoped the public servants would come up with solutions that resonate with the Mwananchi.

“We are celebrating a 10-year journey of public service transformation and innovations. The environment in which the public service operates has become increasingly dynamic and citizens are growing more discerning, calling for continuous innovations from public servants,” she said.

The Exhibition is hosting all of the government’s public service offices where they get to showcase their work to the public.

“The public is welcome to come and engage with various public servants, raise questions, share best practices and challenge them for better, more innovative solutions to better service provision,” she concluded.