I will sanction nonperformers without apology, Ruto vows

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President William Ruto has vowed to sanction nonperforming public servants without apology.

Ruto on Friday said his administration is reengineering performance management to measure results, not activity.

While challenging the public sector to ensure promotion at work is based on demonstrated results, never on mere longevity, Ruto said his administration is investing in human capital to transform the culture of service.

Ruto spoke at the inaugural National Productivity and Performance Conference at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi, where he maintained that advancement must be a result of contribution.

“To entrench this culture across the public service, I have tasked the Public Service Commission to ensure that the values enshrined in Articles 10 and 232 of the Constitution become the living standard of every public office,” said Ruto, adding, “We will reward performers and innovators, and we will sanction nonperformance without apology.”

 According to the president, rewards will be directly tied to productivity while marrying fiscal discipline to productivity, so that every shilling collected from taxpayers generates maximum value.

“We will harness technology under a one-government data-driven approach. And we will build the governance and financing necessary to sustain delivery,” he said.

He said for too long, the public service had focused on the wrong metrics that counted hours at the desk instead of value at the door.

“We rewarded the officer who stayed late, not the office that delivered. We mistook motion for progress and presence for performance. That era ends here,” he said, adding, “From today, the public service of Kenya will reward results, not routine, impact, not attendance. We must stop measuring time spent and start measuring value created”.

According to the president, what matters is not how long a public servant sits at a desk, but how much difference that public servant makes in the life of a citizen.

“We meet at a defining moment. We are advancing the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda in a challenging period, characterised by fiscal constraints, rising expectations, rapid technological change, and fierce global competition,” he said.

Ruto said his administration is committed to ensuring it builds a workforce equipped with the skills, knowledge, and adaptability required for the jobs of tomorrow.

“Equally important, those already in employment must have opportunities for continuous reskilling and upskilling to remain competitive in a rapidly changing world. We must restore merit to the heart of public service,” he said.

While highlighting how Artificial intelligence, automation, and data are rewriting how value is created within public sectors, Ruto said Kenya will not be a spectator in that space.

“Technology will be our multiplier, we will invest in digital infrastructure and a leaner, faster citizen-centred service to accelerate performance,” he said.

Ruto dispelled fears that the said technology would be meant to replace human capital.

“Technology serves people; it does not replace them. That is why we will embed Kaizen - the discipline of continuous improvement - at every level, built on a singular question: How can we do better today than we did yesterday? He posed.