Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has called on state corporations to undertake radical reforms that will help them turn around their fortunes and deliver efficient services to citizens.
Mudavadi said the transformation of state corporations will be key in realization and achievement of government Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BeTA) under Kenya’s Vision 2030 and beyond.
He called on board members of the corporations to update their service charters, digitize their operations and urgently automate their business processes by June this year.
The Prime CS said the implementation of the measures should be fast-tracked under the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) framework to enhance efficiency and enhance citizen service delivery.
Mudavadi speaking in Naivasha during an induction workshop for board members of corporations, where he noted most of them were overly dependent on the exchequer to fund their operations.
He said the government is currently undertaking an audit on huge pending bills, which have soared to sh.1.2 Trillion to establish genuine claims and inflated bills before payment.
The prime CS said the overreliance on exchequer is a consequence of poor governance and lack of strategy by the management of these Agencies.
He said government is also auditing non-performing corporations noting that government won’t hesitate to privatize them if their financial woes worsen.
Mudavadi observed that out of the 79 state corporations that are commercial in nature, only five per cent pay dividends to the government, while 40 per cent turn to the exchequer for financial subsidy.
“You have an urgent duty to turn things unto profitability, or otherwise the hammer of privatization is knocking at the door,” he warned.
The Prime CS also tasked the board members to enhance good leadership and embrace integrity to ensure they deliver on their mandates and service to citizens.
Mudavadi said the government will undertake an audit on government employees’ skills set and performance and review of entities to enhance efficiency and end excessive duplication of services.
At the same time, he called for synergy with state corporations to boost efficiency of government operations and an end to incessant conflicts that may derail government agenda.
“The government is also undertaking audit of its target goals to realign them to ensure we realize vision 2030 and agenda 2063, when the nation will commemorate its 100 years of independence,” said Mudavadi.
He said corporations board members should embrace the open-government partnership strategies and initiatives based on the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation for consensus and ownership in policy, programmes and project delivery.
Mudavadi said boards should keep an eye on strategic plans, service charters and performance contracts which are key tools that drive and engender performance for results.
He also called on board members to ensure they understand the prevailing government guidelines on performance contracting and ensure achievement of targets are tracked and reported on quarterly basis as required.
The Prime CS said boards should also adopt the institutionalized mechanism of performance contracting monitoring and evaluation framework with clear Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
He challenged them to ensure the Public Officer Ethics Act is strictly complied with by ensuring their individual corporations’ staff submit their wealth declaration, which will curb corruption incidences.
Consequently, Mudavadi directed the board members to ascertain full disclosure of all subsidiaries and ventures undertaken by state corporations, their financial stability and fiscal sustainability by June this year.
By Erastus Gichohi
