Governor George Natembeya introduces performance contracts in Trans Nzoia
Governor George Natembeya.
Trans Nzoia County Executives have been put on notice over poor service delivery, with the Finance and Health departments ranked top on integrity malpractices.
Governor George Natembeya has placed the county officials on a contract performance monitoring programme, and is proposing a raft of stringent measures to guide a social audit meant to raise the integrity bar for public servants and weed out corrupt and incompetent officers.
The Governor has also proposed that public institutions must now focus on ensuring high levels of integrity are met and lifestyle audits are objectively done when recruiting public servants, noting that this will curb increasing mismanagement and embezzlement of public funds.
Speaking at an event where county executives and top county officers signed performance contracts, the county chief put on notice the officers over poor integrity, public service values, and poor management of public resources, with the Finance, Health, and Roads departments featuring top on the performance radar.
Top officers
“I have noted integrity issues among top officers in some departments. Top on this is the Finance department, especially procurement, where individuals are given contracts, but cannot provide the services and only use tenders to siphon public funds,” warned Natembeya.
He called for stricter vetting procedures to address concerns about unqualified individuals applying for tenders.
The tough-talking county boss warned that he would sack corrupt officers living above their income levels at the expense of public funds.
He revealed that the county government has rolled out cashless payment for revenue collection in all departments to curb corruption, warning that he will sack culpable corrupt officials.
“I have directed the Finance department to ensure no officer handles cash payments and this financial year I have set a target of Sh1 billion revenue collection,” he noted.
Mr Natembeya highlighted challenges facing Trans Nzoia County, including delays in processing payments and irregularities in the procurement process.
On implementation of the county’s flagship projects, Mr Natembeya told county executives that part of the performance target is to ensure they are fully completed by the end of this year. This includes the completion of the Level 5 Kijana Wamalwa Referral Hospital, Kenyatta modern stadium, Tom Mboya Mother and Baby Hospital, and the construction of the Sh500 million one-stop county headquarters complex.
“We are going to set a revenue collection target for all departments as part of your performance contract because I want to ensure a financially stable government that will serve people well,” said the county boss.
Mr Natembeya said the state of public service across the country is wanting, disputing the notion that corruption was rampant in county governments.
Corruption
“The notion about counties being the centre of corruption and the excuse that graft has been devolved is not true. All public servants must be committed to meeting the demands of the Constitution on proper usage of public resources,” noted Mr Natembeya.
He said the recent sacking of the Cabinet by President William Ruto was a clear indication of a serious governance problem in the country, and the protests demonstrate the same.
The Governor observed that the drafters of the Constitution were prudent enough to provide leadership and integrity guidelines in Chapter Six, but regretted that they have not been strictly implemented in the recruitment of top public servants.
He faulted Parliament and other institutions responsible for vetting public servants terming them a weak link in the credibility of recruitment processes, which have seen people with questionable pasts occupy top public offices.
