PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS IN KENYA

RESTORING AND BUILDING TRUST IN GOVERNMENT

THROUGH

INNOVATIONS TO PROMOTE QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICE

PRESENTATION BY

Ambassador Francis Muthaura, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Public Service

Office of the President KENYA

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Performance Contracts in Kenya

• quality of an effective government cannot be lower than that of its clients → the citizens and the public at large.

• Government therefore, in 2003, introduced performance agreements

↓management tools to create accountability to

the public for targeted results

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Performance Contracts in Kenya• Performance Contracts expanded from a pilot group

of 16 commercial public enterprises in 2004, to eventually cover the entire public service in Kenya, comprising the following institutions:

• 38 Ministries and Accounting Departments

• 130 Public Enterprise

• 175 Local Authorities (ie municipalities, local, county, and urban councils)

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Performance Contracts in Kenya• Extension of Performance Contracts to local

authorities has ensured inclusion of grass root level communities in ensuring achievement of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

• The initiative has turned out to be a powerful tool in restoring and building trust in a Government that the public had almost lost hope in.

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Innovations

• This entailed systematic demystifying of government and the process of governance, through creation of synergies in the relationship with citizens by involving and empowering the public to demand accountability from all holders of public office through a series of innovations:

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Innovations…

• These innovations focus on the following key areas;

1.Performance & quality of service;2.Involvement of service consumers; 3.Evaluation of quality of service delivery; and4.Ranking of institutions by excellence in

performance by using composite score.

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Innovations

Citizen Service Delivery Charter• a key performance indicator in the

performance contract of every public institution;

• statement prepared by a public institution which outlines the nature, quality and quantity of service that citizens should expect from the institution.

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Citizen Service Delivery Charter

It sets out,• What the institution does,• What services users can expect,• The standard of the service to be provided,• Time frame within which the service will be provided.• Any user charges, and the requirements,• How users may seek redress if they are dissatisfied

with the service or in the event the institution does not live up to the commitments in the charter.

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Service Delivery Charter

• The charter has, among others,– Created radical paradigm shift in the management

of the public service by aligning service delivery with the values and needs of the public;

– Ensured focus on customer value proposition which has entailed evaluation of service delivery through the eyes of the customer;

– Provided strong feedback mechanisms on quality and timeliness of service delivery.

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Public/Private Partnership

Involvement of private sector and civil society in the broad process of policy determination, by, specifically, having these partners carrying out the following functions:

• Negotiating performance targets with public institutions

• Evaluating performance• Providing feedback on implementation of

government programs and service delivery shortfalls

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Customer Satisfaction Surveys• all public institutions are required to carry out

annual Customer Satisfaction Surveys and to progressively work towards increasing customer satisfaction. These initiatives have resulted in:– wide credibility in the process because evaluation

of performance is carried out by the citizens themselves, and,

– highly positive impact on service delivery ;- Remarkable change in attitude to work and work ethics by public employees;

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Results of Initiatives

• Adoption of competitive strategy in the delivery of public service, driven by deliberate public disclosure and ranking of performance results;

• decline in reliance on Exchequer funding by public enterprises, resulting in increase in downstream investment in public projects and empowerment of public employees through progressive improvement in terms of service.

• Creation and maintenance of strategic focus by public employees

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Result of Initiatives

• Increased willingness of the public to pay taxes.

for example, tax collections grew by 114% between 2001/2002 and 2007/2008 from KShs183,428,000.000 (US$2,780,000,000) to KShs391,694,000,000* (US$5,935,000,000) translating to an average of 13.6% per year.

*target

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Result of Initiative• Increase in Profitability 1.pre-tax profit for the 16 commercial public

enterprises increased by 282% 2. pre-tax profit for all 130 public enterprises increased

by an average of 39%• Annual electricity connections have risen from 40,000

to over 120,000• Because of the improved tax collections and improved

efficiencies in the delivery of services, the government has been able to;

• Give free primary education

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Results…

• Give free ARVs, malaria TB treatment• From next year, tuition fees for secondary

education will be waived.• The road network rehabilitation is near

completion.• Doubling of civil service salaries while at the

same time lowering the wage bill from 9.7% to 7% of GDP

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Ultimate Outcomes

• Government is currently able to finance up to 95% of its budget from internal sources. This compares favorably with an average of 60% internal financing for countries in the region.

• The economy has grown from a negative level in 2002 to over 6%.

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Local Initiative

• local initiative which has benefited from best practices from countries world over which have successfully implemented the system. It has also been fully locally funded and is not donor driven.

THANK YOU

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