Laikipia Government Staff Now More Marketable Thanks To Reforms

  0  
Performance culture inculcated in the Laikipia county public service three years ago has been noted by other organizations which are seeking to poach staff.
Some staff currently working for the County Government of Laikipia confess to have been approached by other institutions seeking to bring them on board.
The practice is common in corporate sector and is referred to as poaching. Most of those poached are proven to be high performing and are expected to change their organization to higher performers.
The most glaring case is of Infrastructure, Land and Urban development acting chief officer Kenneth Karanja who is headed to a substantive chief officer position in Kiambu County.
Kiambu County Assembly approved the appointment on Wednesday, 18th November 2020 after sailing through the interview and subsequent vetting by the assembly committee.
As an acting chief officer, Mr Karanja rolled out the modernization programme of Laikipias urban centres under the Smart Towns Initiative, providing conducive environment for business and investment.
Smart Towns Initiative cuts across all the departments and with that of Infrastructure spearheading the physical development. It involves planning of the centres, paving of the streets using long-lasting cobble stones, street lighting and street addressing and changing the mindset of the residents.
Mr Karanjas department is also leading the spatial planning of the county. His experience in the utilization of leased road construction equipment which has attracted the interest of many counties will be valuable to his new employer.
Generally, the County Government of Laikipia has continued to push staff to be more innovative and problem solvers at whatever level they serve. Performance is gauged through a rigorous Staff Performance Appraisal which is conducted after every six months.
This has spawned a serious performance culture in the entire organization which is now driving other counties develop interests in targeted staff to get better results in their organizations.
Mr. Karanja is one of the workers admired by many in Laikipia for the quality of his work. During his tenure, he has facilitated in the making the leasing of equipment programme become a reality in the department. The department is one of the best performing in the county.
Fresh blood
In a move seen to make the department improve further, 15 new officers from the county public service board were deployed last week, including two planners who will now support effective planning processes of the urban centers. The two will also help speed up building approval processes which have in the past unnecessarily delayed development of buildings across the County.
The fresh pool of workers will help in the departments ability to deliver on building plans approval as well as delivery on essential services for other departments.
Mr. Karanja is only one among several others whose performance has interested other organisations. The County Government of Nyandarua has also been eyeing one of the directors in County Government of Laikipia.
Reforms being rolled out in county public service have seen increased development activities across the county. The county governments unique approach to issues has also attracted interest of many other counties. About 30 counties have visited Laikipia to benchmark on various sectors ranging from the UHC model, to growth of own source revenue to public service reforms to Smart Towns Initiative to water for production model.
Skills development
Skills development for staff is a key ingredient of these reforms.
Numerous trainings have been taking place across departments to incorporate modern technology and develop workers skills for better service delivery. The newly recruited administrators underwent a one-week training at Kenya School of Government in Nairobi before being deployed to their respective stations of work.
Time-keeping
Time-keeping is a brand that defines the county government of Laikipia. Here, meeting starts on time with those members who are present. As such a phrase like there is no quorum does not exist. Those who are already present for the meeting are the ones needed for the meeting to go on.
The government ensures that all staff members are appraised by their respective supervisors. This counts in all human resource decisions such as promotions, exits, rewards, reprimand, among others.
Spot award was also introduced as a way of appreciating staff who go out of their way in service delivery to the citizens.
HE the Governor recently made changes in the Department of Education after the appraisal exercise, departmental peer rating as well as external polls pointed to below average performance.

  Social Media

WHATS NEW