RECRUITMENT for Principal Secretaries has been extended after dozens of shortlisted candidates failed to impress President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Public Service Commission.
Some 727 people applied for the jobs by the May 4 deadline and the PSC shortlisted and interviewed 110.
Uhuru and the commission discussed the shortlist last Thursday.
The PSC has subsequently re-advertised some of the positions whose applicants did not adequately qualify.
“Certain knowledge and skills gaps in specialisations required for appointment to the position of Principal Secretary in some of the state departments were identified,” the PSC said.
The commission is inviting applications from those qualified in Public Policy Formulation, Security Management, Extractive Industries and Resource Management, Urban Planning, Technology Innovation and Change Management, Food Security, Large Infrastructure Project Development and Management, and Talent and Knowledge Management.
Interested candidates have until Friday to apply.
Those who had applied earlier need not reapply.
Uhuru has asked the Presidential Delivery Unit to prepare a report of the performance of all government departments.
The PDU was created to help the President monitor the progress of his flagship projects.
Uhuru is said to be preparing to use the report to make changes in government, which sources say is likely to happen early next month.
There are currently 26 PSs distributed among 18 ministries and the recently-created the Water and Irrigation docket.
In March, the President suspended four PSs — Nduva Muli (Transport), Mutea Iringo (Defence), Patrick Omuita (Mining) and James Teko (Water).
Five Cabinet Secretaries – Charity Ngilu (Lands), Michael Kamau (Transport), Kazungu Kambi (Labour), Davis Chirchir (Energy) and Felix Koskei (Agriculture) – also stepped aside.
Uhuru has been complaining about laxity among some of his senior officials and on May 5 sent them a memo expressing his concerns.
“The performance and delivery of public service in ministries remains unsatisfactory. This is unacceptable and has to change forthwith. It is further noted that poor performance and failure to deliver has continued to cause frustration to the public due to delays in completion of critical programmes and projects,” Uhuru said in the memo.
Late last month, Uhuru gave accounting officers in a number of ministries seven days to explain why they should not be fired for flouting an Executive Order on procurement.
Accounting officers are the PSs in charge of the various state departments.
In commissions and parastatals, the role of accounting officer is exercised by the CEOs.
A report gave the value of the procurements that were not processed though the e-Procurement system and the compliance rate.
According to documents seen by the Star, independent commissions lead the list of the top 20 institutions that have 100 per cent non-compliance with the directive.
These are the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, the Auditor General, the Parliamentary Service Commission, and the National Land Commission.
The others are the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
The State Department of Water and Regional Authorities also has a 100 per cent non-compliance rate.
Other institutions in the top 20 non-compliance list include the departments of Transport, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Fisheries, Higher Education and Education.
The ministries of Health, Energy, Industrialisation and Labour, the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice and the Commission on Revenue Allocation are in the list.
- the-star.co.ke
President Uhuru Kenyatta Rejects List Of PSs
