The Public Service Commission (PSC) on Tuesday, March 18, issued an 18-day notice to Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, the Solicitor General, Vice-Chancellors of public universities, and other officials regarding the submission of their annual consolidated performance reports.
In a notice, the PSC provided guidelines for submitting the reports, addressing public officers, including Chief Executive Officers of Constitutional and Independent Offices, State Corporations, Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs), and statutory commissions and authorities.
The circular directed public officers to submit their annual reports, along with those of their institutions, to the PSC by April 4 this year.
“The Public Service Commission is mandated under Article 234 of the Constitution to ensure that the Public Service is efficient and shall, pursuant to the Public Service Commission Act 2017, issue guidelines on performance appraisal systems for public bodies and individual public officers,” the notice read.
“This circular reinforces constitutional and legislative provisions and requests that you submit your institution’s Annual Consolidated Performance Report for the year 2023/2024. The report, in Excel format, should be submitted together with the minutes of the Employee Performance Management Committee (EPMC) in PDF and the institution’s Staff Performance Appraisals (SPAs) template to the PSC’s performance management email by 4 April 2025,” it further stated.
Additionally, the PSC announced a new standard submission target date for public bodies and individual officers in future.
“Please note that, in future, the Annual Consolidated Performance Report should be submitted to the Commission by 31 August of every year,” the circular stated.
The latest development comes as the government aims to crack down on underperforming government agencies and the negative impact this has on the nation's development.
To that effect, Deputy Chief of Staff in the Executive Office of the President, Eliud Owalo, has announced the publishing of the draft Performance Management Bill aimed at curbing poor performance.
According to Owalo, this new legal framework will ensure that underperforming Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) face the consequences while those that go over and beyond their mandate will be rewarded with more funding and support.
The Bill, which will soon be tabled in parliament, will pave the way for monitoring the efficiency of public institutions, with performance reviews becoming an essential part of the accountability process.
It will also introduce Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between government agencies that operate simultaneously within shared spaces or rely on each other to meet national objectives.
This framework is expected to allow for accountability and help reduce inefficiencies caused by a lack of coordination between different agencies working together.
