Government rolls out productivity enhancement to drive service delivery

Kisumu,

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

KNA by Chris Mahandara

The government has rolled out a nationwide productivity enhancement drive in the public sector to enhance service delivery and tame the ballooning wage bill.

Through the initiative which targets all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the government banks on the enhanced productivity in the public sector to improve efficiency in service delivery and accountability of public funds.

State Department for Cabinet Affairs Principal Secretary (PS) Dr. Idris Dokota said the initiative targets to match public expenditure with the quality of service and output to ensure the government gets value for money.

The ballooning wage bill, he said, was a big concern accounting for 46% of the country’s ordinary revenue against the recommended 35%.

“This amount caters only for the salaries and wages of about 963,200 public servants. This is not sustainable as it continues to exert pressure on government expenditure. It is for this reason therefore that productivity management in government becomes a necessity,” he said.

Focus, he said, was on enhancing operational efficiency, labour efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The PS said the initiative was a part of the ongoing reforms in the public sector adding that all government ministries, departments and agencies have been directed to include productivity in performance contracts.

“We are in the 20th cycle of implementing performance contracting but the issue of productivity has not been vividly addressed. As part of the public sector reforms we thought it wise to mainstream productivity and see how best it can be achieved,” he said.

The State Department for Cabinet Affairs in collaboration with National Productivity and Competitive Centre, Ministry of Public Service’s Performance and Delivery Management and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), has embarked on a program to sensitize public officers on the importance of mainstreaming productivity.

Speaking at Kisumu National Polytechnic on Tuesday during a productivity mainstreaming training for MDAs in Kisumu County, Dr. Dokota said the MDAs were expected to develop productivity metrics and collect data on the same design productivity improvement strategies.

Results based Management in the public sector, he said was essential to enable the government achieve development goals.

Countries that have entrenched RBM among them Egypt and South Africa, he said have achieved milestones adding that Kenya was on the right trajectory.

Courtesy; KNA