By Robert Nyagah
Despite the heavy government investment in the training of thousands of academically and professionally qualified civil servants in County government and state corporations, failures and disturbing incompetence continue to afflict the civil service, auditor General’s funds utilization audit report on Kenyans satisfaction with the quality of services has revealed.
Accordingly, the report shows, at the County governments’ level larger percentages of funding from the government are largely drained into salaries and wages of the workers who whenever audits are carried out are strangely blamed for mismanaging funds allocated to development projects.
This is against a background where the trainers spread across the Kenya School of Government (KSG) institutions in Embu, Mombasa, Lower Kabete, Matuga and Baringo Campuses have always been described as exemplary in their teaching and impacting the right skills to workers in various cadres at County, National and in the East African region.
The KSG has however reviewed its training strategy to ensure full efficiency at work. The Director General of the KSG, Prof. Ludeki Chweya says they have introduced a new programme which aligns them with present demand and further founded new ones such as the Strategic Leadership Development Program (SLDP). Chweya argues, the skills drawn from the now popular course will help the civil servants focus on making good use of the funding they receive instead of always demanding for more.
Since the launch of the course, Prof. Chweya said the schools have also crafted a curriculum for a higher level program, beyond SLDP, set to build the capacity of public servants not just to run their individual organizations or institutions but to run the country.
Senior civil servants are being equipped not to focus on their offices but to manage the country with Prof. Chweya explaining that appointed officers pursue success of national goals.
“Beneficiaries of this course are being aided to identify national challenges and opportunities to tap into while focusing on available opportunities and the resources to harness and convert them into wealth and good life for Kenyans”.
Graduates of the new courses, the KSG Director General insists should always strive to learn more for them to give directions to solve the problems but always be civil servants, he says should use the skills they get to perform even when they could be some undermining their projects.
“Any single beneficiary of these courses, if need be let him or her be the only person living by the words of professionalism in the public service”. Senior civil servants impacted with more skills and the new courses Prof. Chweya said should always promote honesty.
And as the world celebrated the “Africa Public Service Day 2022”, a report by the KSG explained some of the achievements by the schools in transformation of the public service to serve emerging needs.
Today all programs have been reviewed and continue to be designed to address real capacity gaps bearing on efficient delivery of services by ministries, departments, Agencies and Counties.
The KGS has succeeded in aiding County governments to establish structures, governmental and administrative systems and development of human resource capacity to successful manage various functions.
Some of the biggest challenges at the County government level lay in the Local Economic Development where high skills in project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation lacked and were urgently required.
Such courses as The Government and Management of Urban Areas and Cities Program, the KSG report indicates had created skills among benefitting officers in areas of waste management, physical planning, street lighting and urban transport management and provision of fire services and recreational facilities.
In the now trending area of Climate Change mitigation policies, the KSG has trained Climate Change Focal Persons with support from various international environmental organizations including FAO. Out of such skills the majority of Counties have systems to protect the environment sustainably and mainstream climate change mitigation factors.
