The Public Service Commission has gazetted Performance Management Regulations, 2021.
This will require each public body, state department or agency to set up a performance contracting committee to set targets, evaluate and monitor government employees’ performances.
This is without a doubt a noble idea and timely.
First, the SRC, which is mandated to set and review the remuneration and benefits of all state officers, has on many occasions raised the alarm on the disconnect between civil servants’ productivity and their remuneration.
It has pointed out how some public offices have allowed duplication of roles and payment of multiple allowances without any focus on productivity. The public sector wage bill has also been ballooning every year.
In the 2019-20 financial year, the total wage bill was 51.7 per cent of the revenue raised.
In addition, the wage bill to gross domestic product ratio reached 8.3 per cent in 2019-20, which is above the set target of 7.5 per cent for developing countries.
This means the government spends less on funding the critical areas of the economy such as health and security.
Therefore, performance appraisals will help Kenyans see their value for money spent on civil servants.
A public service reward scheme will also help reward hardworking civil servants with cash bonuses on top of their salaries and allowances.
The appraisals will also help do away with poor performers who fail to improve after support programmes such as retraining and counselling.
It is undeniable that there has been a lot of inadvertency among some civil servants. They are hardly in their workplaces. Some report to work when they want. This has denied the taxpayer crucial services.
Some civil servants have also continued to demand more salaries and allowances through collective bargaining agreements without increasing their productivity.
They hide behind their unions and hold the government hostage until their demands are met. They do not care about the quality of services they offer, but just how much they get at the end of their negotiations.
Therefore, the proposed reward scheme, which will be based on the performances of civil servants, is welcome as the country needs more productivity to speed up economic recovery.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
