For some reason, some Kenyans believe that Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries should have specialised knowledge relevant to the Ministries and State Departments they are respectively appointed to head.
They believe that technical skills and knowledge relevant to a Ministry or State Department ensures that the Cabinet Secretary or the Principal Secretary will make the Ministry or State Department work well.
For example, a medical doctor is best placed to lead the Ministry of Health and a person with a Bachelor of Education Degree is better placed to head the Ministry of Education than anybody else.
This view is mistaken. The top positions of a Ministry, State Department or any organisation don’t require technical skills or specialised knowledge. That expertise is relevant to the operational or delivery level of the Ministry, a State Department or an agency. There are no patients, wards, theatre or laboratory at Afya House—the headquarters of the Ministry of Health. Nor are there learners, classrooms, white board, a laboratory, and other basics for teaching and learning at Jogoo House, the Headquarters of the Ministry of Education. Nor do we have
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The top level requires the authority and power to influence, to mobilise others behind the vision, purpose and values that undergird the Ministry or State Department. The position also requires a man and a woman ready to look for and solve problems that holds back the Ministry or a State Département from providing services to the citizens effectively.
This requires a man or woman who will steer the management of the Ministry or State Department to explore appropriate policy formulation, rules and regulations that induce effective and efficient delivery of services.
All that the CS or PS brings to this position is judgement, critical, conceptual and analytical thinking. He also must possess problem-solving skills critical to providing policy direction to the pressing problems and challenges at hand.
The person also needs to be a good listener and, at the same time, a person who asks hard questions about the advice he is given by the bureaucrats about the policy issues he is supposed to consider and sanction.
The top is policy, direction, and responsibility. Not execution. Not implementation.
Any Cabinet Secretary or Principal Secretary who falters in providing policy direction to issues falters not because of lack of technical knowledge core to the Ministry or State Department. Rather, he falters largely because he doesn’t mobilise the collective intelligence, knowledge, and judgement of the technocrats to bear on the issues at hand, or intimidate them when they seek counsel from them.
The key to marshalling the minds and judgement of the technocrats is constant consultations. The Consultations can be formal through senior staff meetings or informal. It is during these sessions that senior officers, including heads of divisions and sections, present their understanding and views on the issues at hand. The CS or PS listens carefully to understand the inherent complexity of the issue or problem.
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The CS or PS must be very patient to listen to the different perspectives about an issue before making a decision. It is at this point and similar ones that the CS or PS gets to appreciate the dimensions of the problems that are bogging down seamless delivery of quality services to the citizens. This is where a keen listener gets to ask hard questions, seeking explanations behind the inequity in service delivery, as well as delays or otherwise of this service or that service
Without this, a CS or PS risks relying on one or (smooth-talking) senior officers when grappling with serious policy issues to the exclusion of the rest, who might otherwise be more knowledgeable and competent on the issue at hand. Needless to say, dependence on such “smart” officers easily gives rise to wrong decisions and therefore wrong actions.
Lest we forget. A leader has personal responsibility not only to find problems but to correct them. This responsibility comes before all other obligations, before personal ambition or comfort.
This leads me to the idea of courage in the leaders. The CS or PS must be a man or woman of courage. Every ministry or State Department has entrenched interests. The interest of the stakeholders who work with and for the Ministry or State Department might be prejudicial to the common good.
He should also be as courageous in briefing the appointing authority because some of the stakeholders have the ability to undermine his authority by pulling strings behind his back. The reason why the CS is not only be a man or woman of tremendous courage, but earn the trust of the appointing authority. I don’t know of any other way to earn the unqualified trust of the appointing authority except through a thorough understanding of the foundations and operational environment of the Ministry or state Department. He can get this through familiarisation with the Ministry within the first three months of his appointment.
Some of the dysfunctions of policies the public reads about in the media concerning a Ministry or State Department could be because powerful interest groups influence the policymaking architecture, and so, they make hay from it. It is the reason why a CS or PS needs to be a man or woman of moral courage to dismantle some things that make delivery of services not only wasteful but mediocre.
A properly educated (not necessarily trained) mind can run a Ministry or State Department, however sophisticated it might be. Technical skills—vocational or professional skills—are most required at supervisory levels of an organisation and not even at the managerial level, even though people of technical know-how are found at these two levels. In fact, possession of the technical knowledge by a CS or PS can easily tempt him to become narrow in outlook. The CS or PS stands on top of the peak of a mountain range. Not at its foot. He gives direction from that peak.
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It is for this reason that the top echelons of any organisation, public or private, small or big, require knowledge, skills, abilities, and values. The knowledge may be general or specialised. Academic or vocational.
It is one of the essential pieces of equipment that leaders and educated people require. They also require skills—basic skills of writing, listening, speech, and reading and numeracy skills. They require a set of values—caring, service, compassion, honesty, integrity and empathy.
We had a Minister who never failed to tell everybody that he didn’t trust anybody. He didn’t trust himself either!
He was wrong. A leader is a team leader. He must trust and be trustworthy. Otherwise, he cannot do much.
The knowledge, skills, abilities, and values required to steer an organisation—a family, a school, a church or government—have little or nothing to do with hard skills core to an organisation. It has everything with soft skills that are applicable in all organisations.
We get these from basic education institutions and society as a whole. Beyond basic education, a general degree or an academic degree has much to impart the things needed to run an institution. Professional or vocational training institutions have their place in imparting the technical knowledge and skills needed at the service delivery point.
By Kennedy Buhere
Buhere is a Communication Specialist
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