The Public Service Commission (PSC) is in the process of establishing a call centre that will enable the citizens to query and get feedback on public delivery services.
This is in line with the strategic directions of the Commission to have citizen-centric public service.
The PSC Chairman, Stephen Kirogo said the queries will be taken to the relevant ministries to give feedback as each ministry has provided a contact person who will work with PSC to give answers to queries from citizens.
“The best auditors for public service is the citizen, we want to give them an opportunity on this platform to give their views and to audit the services rendered. This will minimise people seeking services from engaging brokers,” he said.
The Chairman was speaking on Tuesday where the Public Service Commission had a luncheon with the Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) Press Club at a Nairobi hotel.
He said any policy the commission makes will involve the youth who make the majority in the country’s population.
Kirogo said the Commission recognises the media as a key stakeholders and public educator and will collaborate with them in facilitating debate and citizen feedback on service delivery improvement.
“The media can educate the public to understand government reform initiatives, which makes it easier for government to build support for their implementation. We therefore look forward to strengthening our relationship with the media in this regard,” said Kirogo.
Kirogo said the Commission is keen to involve the youth in any policy it makes since they form the majority population, noting that policies formulated today will affect the youth and the future generation.
He said PSC is conducting interviews to for 3200 youth to enter the public service at the entry level, adding that the Commission has also recruited 6,000 youth as interns under the Public Service Internship Programme to create a solution to the perennial problem of youth unemployment.
“The internship programme will sharpen their competencies, equip them with skills” said Kirogo and added that those who will not have be engaged directly in public service will have already acquired skills in making vital decisions and entrepreneurship.
He said developing capacity for the young people was necessary as it will help in serving Kenyans as well as benefit the country in social and economic spheres.
He at the same time announced that PSC is putting into place measures that will weed out public servants who wait for salaries at the end of the month without working for it and retain those who work for it.
“We will smoke out all inefficient civil servants as we ensure that every officer gets a reward they have worked for,” warned Mr. Kirogo.
He said the Commission believes in the reforms it is making is for Kenyans, and their joy is to have members of the public who appreciate the work delivered by public servants as employers.
A member of the Kenya Editors Guild, Rose Lukalo in her remarks called on the PSC to ensure that government offices provide timely information to the public whenever there are queries that need to be tackled.
She said most of the data provided by various institutions on the same issue is incoherent and at times were not forthcoming to the eager public.
Ms. Lukalo also urged the Commission to look into ways of bringing down the wage bill and the cost of getting government services.
“Citizenry should not pay brokers for the services they have paid for to get government services, this makes the public to end up paying five times for the services,” she said.
By Bernadette Khaduli
