The report shows that 140 parastatals did not achieve their annual performance targets.
It also shows that state corporations in the manufacturing sector are among the poorest performers, with South Nyanza Sugar Company Limited (Sony) ranked the worst.
The second worst parastatal is the National Oil Corporation of Kenya, which was also ranked “poor” by the Public Service Performance management and Monitoring Unit.
Other poor performers include Kenya Utalii College, Chemelil Sugar Company Limited, Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute, Nzoia Sugar Company Limited, Bandari Maritime Academy and Special Economic Zones Authority.
“92 state corporations out of the 232 representing 39.6 per cent achieved their annual performance targets while 140, translating to 60.4 per cent did not,” reads the report, a copy of which the Star has exclusively obtained.
Although universities dominate the top slots, the best overall parastatal is the National Irrigation Authority currently headed by Gitonga Mugambi as the chief executive officer.
The University of Embu was ranked second best, Tharaka University College third, the University of Nairobi fourth, with Kenya Industrial Estates closing the top five list.
Kenyatta University Research, Referral and Teaching Hospital; Chuka University, South Eastern Kenya University, Technical University of Mombasa and Water Resources Authority are the other top performers in that order.
When ranked based on core mandate alone, the University of Nairobi becomes the best overall, cementing its position as Kenya's premier institution of higher education
The first eight state corporations attained what the monitoring unit described as “excellent performance grade”.
“It is noted that the public universities functional category was also the best performing in the financial year 2019-2020 while the commercial/manufacturing functional category was the worst performing during the same period,” the report states.
The ranking was done based on performance in seven key areas, including the parastatals' key mandate, customer experience and corruption prevention.
Others are project completion rate, payment of pending bills, absorption of funds, implementation of presidential directives, access to government procurement opportunities for the youth and women as well as internship opportunities for the youth.
None of the 98 tertiary institutions – consisting of teacher training colleges, technical training institutes and national polytechnics – attained an excellent grade.
In addition, only 21 of the tertiary institutions met their performance targets.
Thika Technical Training Institute was ranked the best-performing tertiary institution.
Other top three performers are Katine Technical Training Institute, The Kenya Coast National Polytechnic and Friends College, Kaimosi.
The poorest performing tertiary institution, according to the ranking, is Borabu Technical and Vocational College followed by Ahmed Shahame Mwidani Technical Training Institute.
Others in the bottom 10 are Bungoma North Technical and Vocation College, Kipkabus Technical and Vocational College, Butere Technical and Vocational College and Gitwebe Technical Training Institute.
The bottom 10 state corporation based on core mandates brings some new names.
They include Bandari Maritime Academy, the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation, National Council for Persons with Disabilities and Jomo Kenyatta Foundation.
For tertiary institutions, Friends College, Kaimosi takes the top spot, beating Thika Technical Training Institute – the runner-up – which is ranked the overall best in that category.
Giant parastatals that did not meet their performance targets include Kenya Power, Kenya National Highways Authority, Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, National Cereals and Produce Board, the National Hospital Insurance Fund and Kenya Airports Authority.
According to the report, Chemelil Sugar Company, Nzoia Sugar Company and South Nyanza Sugar Company Limited have for the last two financial years featured in the bottom 10.
“The sugar companies attributed their dismal performance to inadequate supply of sugar for milling and low factory capacity utilisation as a result of aged equipment,” the report states.
These are among the firms lined up for privatisation to engineer their turnaround.
The Kenya Cultural Centre and Kenya Utalii College, which were among the bottom 10 performers, attributed their dismal performance to restrictions occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the monitoring unit dismissed the argument.
“Data analysis indicates that similar institutions whose operations are dependent on patronage by clients performed better under the same constraints,” the report notes.
Reforms championed by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta at the Kenya Meat Commission seemed to have paid off.
KMC moved from the bottom 10 to post what the evaluators noted was a ‘good’ performance although it still did not hit the performance target.
The Public Service Performance Management and Monitoring Unit also rated 21 ministries, State House, the office of the Deputy President, and the office of the Attorney General and will issue a separate report.
Despite 140 parastatals failing to meet their targets, the evaluation team noted it was a general improvement compared with the year 2019-2020.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya
