The Office of the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service has admitted that in-house challenges hindered its officers from hitting targets in a strategic plan that covered the five-year period between 2018 and 2022.
Headed by Felix Koskei, the office indicated in its strategic plan for 2023 to 2027 that service delivery was affected by its nature and structure which created operational challenges within its entities, particularly due to an independent reporting framework for each office.
Without mentioning the specific targets that were not met in the period under review, the report further indicated that some of the workers within the office operated in silos.
The strategic plan also suffered from insufficient financial resources, suffered from a lack of coherence in planning and implementation and experienced episodes of weak monitoring and oversight of government programmes and projects.
"Despite achieving some key milestones, the 2018-2023 Strategic Plan fell short of most of the targets set in the Strategic Framework Agreements (SFAs)," read the statement in part.
"While some of these challenges were unforeseen and unavoidable, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and political tensions, the majority were structural challenges within the Executive Office of the President."
The office, however, celebrated milestones it hit which included supervising and coordinating Ministries, Departments, and Agencies as well as coordinating the implementation of Presidential Initiatives.
Other achievements were providing advice on the coordination of national security, advising the President on his prerogative exercise of the power of mercy, and facilitating the delivery of the National State of the Nation Address.
"The Strategic Model of the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan of the OCOS&HOPS was driven by aspirations of promoting and mainstreaming values and principles of public service in accordance with the Constitution," added the strategic plan.
Primarily, the Head of Public Service is tasked with managing operations, coordinating policies, and supervising staff.
On behalf of the President, the office handles communication with Ministries, Departments and Agencies regarding the daily operations of the government.
In its latest strategic plan, the office intends to utilise the whole government approach in the execution of the programmes, policies, and projects.
