Kenyan President, William Ruto, addressed top government officials who arrived late to a scheduled meeting, admonishing them for their lack of discipline. “If you cannot keep time with your employer, you have basically dismissed yourself. It’s just as simple as that,” President Ruto stated.
The officials were expected to attend the event to sign performance contracts. “If you do not take this performance contracting seriously it means we do not take the contract with the people of Kenya on performance seriously,” the president emphasised.
Local media reports revealed that multiple senior government officials were barred from entering State House in the capital, Nairobi, and were left waiting in the car park as the event proceeded. For the past 20 years, Kenyan state officials have been signing similar contracts as a means of measuring the performance of their ministries and state agencies.
President Ruto also pledged to tackle the misuse of taxpayers’ money and put an end to unfulfilled promises. “It will not be business as usual. I made a commitment to the people of Kenya that there will be no money to steal. There is only money to deliver on the projects and aspirations of Kenyans,” he asserted.
He also asked the ministries to fast-track digitization of their different departments, “I do not expect by the end of this year, any government service to continue the manual way. All other pay bill numbers in government offices will be shut down except the one being manned by the treasury.”
President Ruto gave a stern warning to public servants embezzling funds or engaging in graft “The moment there are signs of intentions to do something, we will deal with you.”
In June, President Ruto signed a contentious finance bill into law, which doubled the tax on fuel and introduced a new housing levy, among other measures. The plans faced criticism from the opposition and sparked a series of protests across the country.