Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and heads of parastatals on Tuesday 1st August 2023 morning signed performance contracts at a short ceremony held in State House, Nairobi, and witnessed by President William Ruto.
Speaking during the event, President William Ruto said his administration’s push for its officials to sign a performance contract is to enable it to achieve the highest levels of efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public services, ensure accountability in the utilization of public resources and improve the mechanisms of service delivery.
” I have given my solemn undertaking to protect public resources during my term in office. I shall be held to account for the good government of our country, delivery of our commitments and the stewardship of public resources. I intend to give a good account on each of these mandates,” President Ruto said.
”I shall hold every officer serving in government, beginning with you, to account for both their performance in service delivery and stewardship of public resources. I shall deal with cases of negligence, misappropriation, embezzlement, theft or other misconduct or corruption in relation to public resources summarily and decisively. You are hereby duly notified.” he added.
The Head of State noted that the event would transform government services to emulate developed economies such as Singapore.
The President also cautioned members of the executive who were late for the performance contract signing event, ordering them to deliver written explanations for their lateness.
”I don’t know whether it is because these performance contracts have been going on for 20 years that many people may be mistakenly thinking that it is a ritual. That is why people resort to the old incompetent excuses that there was traffic. We have a job because we have a contract. If you cannot keep time with your employer you have basically dismissed yourself,” Ruto said.
Two cabinet secretaries were reported to have been locked out of the event after arriving late.
