Inside State's plan to weed out ghost workers

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi. [File, Standard]

The Ministry of Public Service has committed to seal loopholes that allow for ghost workers as part of President William Ruto’s plan to reduce public discontent with his government.

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi pledged to deploy technology in his grand plan to manage human resources by June next year.

“We’ll rollout the Human Resource Information System (HRIS-Ke) Payroll Module to ensure integrity, efficiency and effective management of human resource data,” Muturi said during the validation of ministerial commitments.

The process, steered by Eliud Owalo, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Performance and Delivery, and the Secretary to the Cabinet, Mercy Wanjau, has been going on for two weeks.

Ministers and principal secretaries will sign performance contracts based on the President’s targets.

Last week, Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei met principal secretaries who reported on the progress of the implementation of government projects.

Muturi also said he will review the Human Resource Development Policy to implement relevant strategies in the public service, as well as strengthen counselling services.

Some 300 mental health champions will be trained, with the ministry committing to offer counselling services to 8,000 public servants. Six hundred mental health champions were trained in the last two years.

Muturi further committed to increase the number of Kenyans served through Huduma Kenya from 13.5 million to 14 million by the end of the current financial year.

Health CS Debra Barasa committed to operationalising the Social Health Authority as part of the government’s universal health coverage plan, which will include equipping select hospitals with relevant technologies and equipment, some of which will be developed locally.

She said her ministry would improve “the rollout of strategic health services, reduce inefficiencies in provider payment mechanisms and increase enrolment in the Social Health Insurance Fund “.

Ruto’s health plan has sparked controversy over its rushed implementation and questions about contracting the President’s close contacts to provide key services.

Over the next eight months, the Health ministry plans to recruit 4,000 interns, a controversial matter that has led to paralysing strikes by doctors.

It also committed to developing a health strategic plan, increasing the proportion of deliveries conducted by skilled birth attendants, and increasing the number of people with drug-susceptible tuberculosis on treatment to 100,000.

“The Ministry of Health commits to implement malaria prevention measures to reduce the malaria incidence from the current 104 per 1,000 persons to 80 per 1,000 people, establish 50 primary care networks, train 10,000 community health promoters and improve access to health products and technologies,” said Barasa, who also pledged to increase the number of HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy from 1,342,000 to 1,365,000.

Labour and Social Projection CS Alfred Mutua has been tasked to finalise four bilateral labour agreements, Ruto’s apparent strategy to cut unemployment, which has often been criticised as impractical.

Mutua said the government had signed labour agreements with six countries over the last two years — the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Germany and Austria. 

“202,125 Kenyans have been placed in jobs abroad in health, agriculture, construction, hospitality and domestic work an increase from 187,474,” said Mutua.

He also committed to provide social assistance to poor and vulnerable persons through the Inua Jamii programme, targeting 1.2 million elderly persons, to more than 400,000 households taking care of orphans and vulnerable children and nearly 58,000 persons living with disabilities. 

The ministry also plans to disburse the presidential secondary school bursary to 22,300 orphans and vulnerable children and coordinate the rehabilitation of street families by operationalising rehabilitation chapters across 12 counties.

The Tourism and Wildlife Ministry targets to raise Sh430 billion from the sector and hopes to increase the number of tourist arrivals to 2.5 million.

Tourism CS Rebecca Miano said her plan also involves enhancing domestic tourism with the ministry setting out to map out niche products in the high-earning industry.

Fifteen counties will offer niche tourism products across the sectors of agri-tourism, cultural adventure, avi-tourism, gastronomy and sports.

Coastal counties are also set to benefit from enhancements in safety and security through street lights and tourism security booths.

Miano said 2,000 beach operators will be trained on safety and security in Mombasa and Lamu counties.