The Public Service Commission (PSC) has stated that the promotion of workers across all government departments will, from now on, be strictly based on performance.
According to PSC Commissioner Francis Meja, who held a consultative meeting with officials from the State Department of Public Health on Monday, July 21, the promotion of workers without a credible performance record has played a key role in undermining the efficiency of the service.
Furthermore, the service has noted that it will put an end to arbitrary promotions that are not based on fair, objective, and transparent criteria. According to Meja, the move aims to ensure only competent and deserving officers clinch top roles in the service.
“We have witnessed instances where officers are promoted without any clear evidence of performance or competency, and this has undermined the efficiency of the public service,” said the commissioner.
He added that, “Going forward, no promotions will be effected without due consideration of quarterly performance appraisals.”
Meja stressed the need for supervisors in ministries, state departments, agencies, and state corporations to ensure that they thoroughly scrutinise the performance of all workers under them, ensure that they meet the set targets, and regularly submit reports.
Furthermore, the commission called for a collaborative effort between government departments to resolve the human resource challenge, which the Public Health Principal Secretary, Mary Muthoni, noted had remained unresolved.
According to the commission, the new system aims to streamline public service delivery, accountability, and professionalism across all government departments.
The PSC oversees a wide range of workers, including civil servants, public employees in central, regional, and local authorities, as well as those in emergency services.
The announcement comes just days after Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua stated that the government intends to introduce productivity-based incentives in a bid to enhance efficiency among civil servants.
Mutua, who revealed this on Thursday, July 10, during a meeting with Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) officials, explained that through the incentives, the state would recognise and reward workers who have achieved specific targets and contributed to improved service delivery.
"We are exploiting the possibility of introducing productivity-based incentives to enhance motivation and performance across public institutions. This is in line with our broader vision of building a responsive, efficient, and accountable public service," CS Mutua announced.
