State developing app to monitor civil servants’ activities – CS Ruku

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku has announced that the government is developing a mobile application to monitor the activities of public servants.

Speaking in Samburu, Ruku said all civil servants will be required to install the application on their mobile phones to enable the government to track their location and activities during working hours.

The app will also record what time they report to and leave their workstations.

The Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Human Capital Development and Special Programmes emphasised that all state officers must act responsibly and take their jobs seriously.

“The ministry has embarked on a project to develop a mobile application which every civil servant in the Republic will be required to download. It will enable us to know whether you are at your workstation, on leave, attending a workshop, and what you are doing, what time you reported and what time you left, whether you're on maternity or paternity leave,” Ruku said.

“Anyone drawing a salary from the government must be responsible, just as the President is responsible. Everyone must take their job seriously; that is the only way we can develop our nation."

Ruku’s remarks come after he made impromptu visits to government offices in different parts of the country and found several of them locked at 8 am, with Kenyans waiting outside to be served.

The most recent incident occurred at government offices in Nyeri.

The CS insisted that public servants must report to work on time to serve Kenyans diligently.

“I want to urge all public servants to serve Kenyans diligently and get to their workstations on time. I have visited various places and noticed a worrying trend of late reporting and absenteeism,” he said.

Earlier this week, Ruku warned that, going forward, civil servants who report late or are absent from work will be treated as ghost workers.

“We cannot continue paying salaries to people who don’t do any meaningful work,” he said.

“Everyone working in any government office who fails to report to work on time, or reports and then disappears, will be treated as a ghost worker.”