President William Ruto has issued a directive to Principal Secretaries and heads of various regulatory agencies, instructing them to conduct an audit of their roles and align them with the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
According to a press release from the Office of the Government Spokesperson, Issac Mwaura, it was emphasised that these agencies must carry out their roles diligently, considering their responsibility in safeguarding the lives of Kenyans.
Particularly, emerging issues were highlighted as some of the reasons why the regulatory authorities needed to effectively deliver on their mandates.
"His Excellency the President directs that regulatory agencies need to wake up from their slumber! The regulators' inability to anticipate, identify, and proactively mitigate issues beforehand stands as a significant contributor to the governance, performance, safety, and security challenges confronting us.
"Recent incidents brought to light in the public sphere have underscored the indispensable role Regulatory Authorities and Agencies fulfil: safeguarding and enhancing the quality of life and livelihoods, averting property and business damage, and upholding the imperative standard of goods and services provided to the public," read the statement in part.
On the other hand, Ruto also commended various agencies that had taken up their roles effectively.
According to the statement by the government, the directives were issued during a conference that was held for the various regulatory authorities.
"The just concluded conference with esteemed Principal Secretaries, Chairpersons, and Chief Executive Officers from our Regulatory Authorities and Agencies, united under the overarching theme: Regulatory Authorities and Agencies (RAA) as Critical Agents in the Frontline of Achieving the Kenya Kwanza Promise of Premier Service Delivery to Kenyans.
"The litmus test for evaluating the greatness of a nation, lies in the efficacy of its government's service delivery and this is dictated, by the effectiveness of its regulatory entities," he stated.
Meanwhile, the government also issued an update on the strategies that were being undertaken to better service delivery.
For instance, it was noted that the government had acquired new passport printing machines to deal with the existing backlog.
Additional immigration offices are also set to be opened to enable the government the services closer to people.
The offices will be open in Nyeri, Bungoma and Garissa.
"The government hopes to issue 1.2 million digital National ID cards to first-time applicants and 1.6 million duplicate IDs to build on to the 733,000 Maisha cards it has issued," read the statement in part.
