Government and Policy

Civil Servants Warned Against Accumulating Leave Days

BY Juma · September 22, 2023 09:09 am

KEY POINTS

The Public Service boss said many senior Government officials have not been proceeding on leave, many choosing to stay in office on the pretext that nobody within their department is equal to the task.

The government, through the Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, has warned civil servants who accumulate leave days so that they can be paid that they will have to “cry from the toilet” henceforth for the government will no longer pay them.

Koskei directed that all public servants must ensure they exhaust all their leave days or ensure that by June next year, they have no more than 15 unused days. According to the Head of Public Service, those who will go against this directive will donate the days to the government.

Mr. Koskei termed the tendency of absconding on annual leave as an indicator of corruption, adding that the government will not compensate leave days with money. He says some officials want to always hang around offices to protect their corrupt deals.

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“We will issue a circular… to all ministries, those who have accumulated leave days must proceed on leave. Give others breathing space,” Koskei told senior government officials during the Zero Fault Audit Campaign.

“We have looked at the records and have seen that senior public officials have many unutilized leave days. The explanations that they give is that there is nobody to take over or there is too much work and therefore, there is no time to take leave.”

At the same time, Koskei directed all public entities to adopt the tenets of the ‘Zero Fault Audit Campaign’ in Financial 2023/24 during which they are expected to:

Ensure closure of all prior outstanding audit queries by 2nd October 2023.

Not attract a single audit query in FY 2023/24.

Escalate any anticipation of an audit query to the attention of the concerned PS, the Office of Auditor General, and the Office of the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service (COS & HOPS).

Sensitize, train, and educate all officers concerned about the Zero Fault Audit; 5. Diligently track and monitor audit issues by management for results.

Migrate onto the soon-coming database for the COS & HOPS designed to monitor and track the performance of MDAs concerning various parameters including audit.

Public entities are also directed to embrace legal audit as a tool for the realization of the ‘Zero Fault Audit Campaign’. Public entities shall carry out an annual legal audit to establish a culture of compliance and to avoid unnecessary legal expenses by anticipating and mitigating potential legal disputes.

“To incentivize performance, this consultative engagement shall be the launch of the Public Service Exemplary Leaders – Stellar Performance Awards Scheme (PSEL-SPAS) aimed at promoting over-achievement and excellence in the execution and implementation of mandates by public entities, as well as reinforcement of the values, principles, and ethics required of public officers in the course of their duties,” said Koskei.

About Juma

Juma is an enthusiastic journalist who believes that journalism has power to change the world either negatively or positively depending on how one uses it. (020) 528 0222 or Email: info@sokodirectory.com