Gender and Affirmative Action Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aisha Jumwa has officially handed over the State Department for Public Service to Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria.
Jumwa welcomed Kuria to the State Department, saying that she believes the public service plays a critical role in improving and providing overall direction and leadership to the country by helping the government deliver on its mandate.
She explained that the State Department of Public Service plays a critical role in helping the government achieve its goals and promises to the people.
The Public Service, Performance, and Delivery Management Cabinet Secretary, Moses Kuria, emphasised that he is delighted to take over the ministry and will work hard to drive forward the transformation of the public service and, most importantly, ensure that they have a fit-for-purpose public service that adds value to the people of this country.
“We have around 900,000 public servants who are supposed to deliver service to 55 million Kenyans,” noted Kuria.
He emphasised that the country’s salary expenditure stands at around 52 per cent of the ordinary tax revenue, which means that half of the money collected by the government is spent on the salaries of 900,000 people.
“I intend to pick up from where President Mwai Kibaki left off by carrying out a process-based reform of the public service to ensure that we have a public service that is agile, nimble, fit for purpose, and adds value to the people of this country,” said Kuria.
Kuria advised that anyone who is looking for job opportunities should first join the National Youth Service (NYS), since it will be the engine of transforming the country.
“NYS will be the engine of growing this country; the government of President Ruto is going to use it to awaken our agriculture and revive our manufacturing to inculcate a culture of service that is based on patriotism and love for this country,” said Kuria.
He further added that they are going to transform the Kenya School of Government in efforts to help the country address emerging issues like climate change and green finance.
“It is my view and determination that the Kenya School of Government will also be our tool for widening our influence, especially around Africa. We intend to transform it into an Africa School of Government which is able to train people from other countries like Nigeria and South Africa,” Kuria stated.
By Nice Wambui and Venna Onyango
