Aviator
Elder Lister
Despite not voting for him in the last 4 elections, I can't help but admire his style of managing this country. The CSs now have clear measurable performance targets.
I don't envy the ICT CS.
nation.africa
President William Ruto’s Cabinet is under immense pressure to fulfil six-month targets set during last week’s retreat in Nanyuki, with focus on five pillars the Head of State has set as his key deliverables in his first term.
Dr Ruto, Sunday Nation understands, mandated the ministers to set targets, in clusters of ministries in different sectors, based on five key pillars: agriculture; universal health coverage; a digital superhighway economy; access to affordable credit; as well as manufacturing and value addition.
“The President insisted on ministries not behaving as silos, operating under the bottom-up agenda, and ensure that every section sees what they man as part of a value chain basis, not one and end in itself product or service,” a senior government official who attended the retreat told the Sunday Nation.
Since his inauguration, Dr Ruto has set the ball rolling in these five key pillars, including the launch of the Sh50 billion Hustler Fund, granting financial autonomy to the police away from the Ministry of Interior, reintroduction of subsidised fertiliser, rollout of plans to digitise 5,000 government services in six months, as well as plans to put 370,000 acres of Galana Kulalu under crop production in the next six months.
Now, Sunday Nation has exclusively obtained deliverables set for the different ministries in the retreat where President Ruto is said to have attended all meetings, demanded punctuality in the sessions that started as early as 7:30 am and ended at 9pm.
For ICT CS Eliud Owalo, whose homecoming the President attended yesterday, he is tasked with ensuring the success of the digitisation of government services by June this year, setting up of 25,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, and the daunting task of the revival of loss-making Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) Kenya and the giant punching way below its weight, the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
The ministry, at the centre of the digital superhighway economy dream, has also been tasked with actualising the dream of the Kenya Open University by May this year, which will offer a total of 128 courses, as well as the setting up of 120,000km of digital superhighway within a year.
In line with his agenda of going slow on the capital intensive development projects, President Ruto has directed Kipchumba Murkomen-led Transport ministry to freeze all the big infrastructural projects which are yet to commence while on the other hand, audit the billions of pending bills and come up with modalities of payments by June this year.
The Kenya Kwanza administration plans to revive all stalled projects using a proposed Infrastructure Bond and budgetary provisions while at the same time starting the gravelling of village roads.
The Ruto-led government is also focused on reducing cost of construction by creating Materials Resources department that will be sourcing materials at cheaper rates and Mechanical department to oversee the construction itself.
For Prof Kithure Kindiki, who leads the Interior and National Administration docket, President Ruto has ordered that, within the next six months, he puts measures in place to “improve staff welfare, including career progression and remuneration”.
Already, the President has set up a 23-member team led by former Chief Justice David Maraga to review terms of service for police officers and prison wardens.
“The Interior ministry is also tasked to introduce Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector programme to wholistically reform the police, correctional services, national government administration, civil registration services and immigration,” the six-month target agreed in the Nanyuki retreat states.
For Prof Njuguna Ndung’u’s Treasury, their biggest target in the next six months is the bid to reduce the budget deficit by Sh300 billion for 2023-2024 fiscal year.
At the helm of the ministry that set policies to ensure access to affordable credit as well as to raise the ambitious tax revenue targets, Prof Ndung’u, who has served as Central Bank of Kenya governor, is tasked with the heavy responsibility of ensuring sound fiscal policies to steer growth and increase revenues.
For newcomer Health CS Susan Nakhumicha, her biggest headache is the six-month target to enrol 17 million Kenyans to the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) as well as roll out a health information technology plan to ensure hospitals can share data easily.
For the ministries of Cooperatives and Agriculture led by Simon Chelugui and Mithika Linturi, respectively, President Ruto has directed them to, within a year, double the milk processed at the Kenya Cooperative Creameries from 1.5 million litres daily.
The President also wants talks with 26 cooperatives finalised to ensure they grow maize to avert the shortages faced and bring unga prices down, with an equally ambitious target of modernising all ginneries to protect cotton growing and revive Kenya’s fledgling clothes industry.
The Ministry of Energy, led by ‘comeback kid’ Davis Chirchir, has been tasked to provide electricity to 250 schools and markets by June and provide all schools with liquefied petroleum gas by the end of the year.
Read: President Ruto directs Cabinet to align operations to bottom-up model
The government will also be expected to stop buying electricity from an expensive thermal (diesel) power plant that has been selling to Kenya Power at a significantly higher price than others. The ministry has been tasked to ensure power lines like Turkwel-Kitale are completed and the Menengai Geothermal plant to start feeding the national grid.
According to details obtained by the Sunday Nation, the former Kandara MP Alice Wahome-led Water ministry has been tasked with ensuring the beginning of works on the multibillion Karemenu Dam in Gatundu this month, and that of Murang’a’s Northern Water Collector Tunnel next month, as the government aims to have construction of 95 dams started in the next six to 18 months as well as having sunk 150 boreholes and 800 pans.
Similarly, Ms Wahome has been tasked with ensuring the review of laws to allow the private sector to help in the building of dams, as well as ensuring the success of the multibillion-shilling Galana Kulalu project, also in partnership with the private sector.
Environment CS Soipan Tuya has been tasked with planting 1.5 billion trees annually, with Dr Ruto targeting 15 billion in 10 years.
Ms Tuya, a two-term Narok Woman Representative before her recent appointment, is also required to begin discussions to ensure use of five per cent of National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) is dedicated to environmental issues
I don't envy the ICT CS.
Long, sleepless nights for William Ruto ministers over tough new work targets
The Cabinet is under immense pressure to fulfil six-month targets set during last week’s retreat in Nanyuki.
nation.africa
President William Ruto’s Cabinet is under immense pressure to fulfil six-month targets set during last week’s retreat in Nanyuki, with focus on five pillars the Head of State has set as his key deliverables in his first term.
Dr Ruto, Sunday Nation understands, mandated the ministers to set targets, in clusters of ministries in different sectors, based on five key pillars: agriculture; universal health coverage; a digital superhighway economy; access to affordable credit; as well as manufacturing and value addition.
“The President insisted on ministries not behaving as silos, operating under the bottom-up agenda, and ensure that every section sees what they man as part of a value chain basis, not one and end in itself product or service,” a senior government official who attended the retreat told the Sunday Nation.
Since his inauguration, Dr Ruto has set the ball rolling in these five key pillars, including the launch of the Sh50 billion Hustler Fund, granting financial autonomy to the police away from the Ministry of Interior, reintroduction of subsidised fertiliser, rollout of plans to digitise 5,000 government services in six months, as well as plans to put 370,000 acres of Galana Kulalu under crop production in the next six months.
Now, Sunday Nation has exclusively obtained deliverables set for the different ministries in the retreat where President Ruto is said to have attended all meetings, demanded punctuality in the sessions that started as early as 7:30 am and ended at 9pm.
For ICT CS Eliud Owalo, whose homecoming the President attended yesterday, he is tasked with ensuring the success of the digitisation of government services by June this year, setting up of 25,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, and the daunting task of the revival of loss-making Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) Kenya and the giant punching way below its weight, the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
The ministry, at the centre of the digital superhighway economy dream, has also been tasked with actualising the dream of the Kenya Open University by May this year, which will offer a total of 128 courses, as well as the setting up of 120,000km of digital superhighway within a year.
In line with his agenda of going slow on the capital intensive development projects, President Ruto has directed Kipchumba Murkomen-led Transport ministry to freeze all the big infrastructural projects which are yet to commence while on the other hand, audit the billions of pending bills and come up with modalities of payments by June this year.
The Kenya Kwanza administration plans to revive all stalled projects using a proposed Infrastructure Bond and budgetary provisions while at the same time starting the gravelling of village roads.
The Ruto-led government is also focused on reducing cost of construction by creating Materials Resources department that will be sourcing materials at cheaper rates and Mechanical department to oversee the construction itself.
For Prof Kithure Kindiki, who leads the Interior and National Administration docket, President Ruto has ordered that, within the next six months, he puts measures in place to “improve staff welfare, including career progression and remuneration”.
Already, the President has set up a 23-member team led by former Chief Justice David Maraga to review terms of service for police officers and prison wardens.
“The Interior ministry is also tasked to introduce Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector programme to wholistically reform the police, correctional services, national government administration, civil registration services and immigration,” the six-month target agreed in the Nanyuki retreat states.
For Prof Njuguna Ndung’u’s Treasury, their biggest target in the next six months is the bid to reduce the budget deficit by Sh300 billion for 2023-2024 fiscal year.
At the helm of the ministry that set policies to ensure access to affordable credit as well as to raise the ambitious tax revenue targets, Prof Ndung’u, who has served as Central Bank of Kenya governor, is tasked with the heavy responsibility of ensuring sound fiscal policies to steer growth and increase revenues.
For newcomer Health CS Susan Nakhumicha, her biggest headache is the six-month target to enrol 17 million Kenyans to the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) as well as roll out a health information technology plan to ensure hospitals can share data easily.
For the ministries of Cooperatives and Agriculture led by Simon Chelugui and Mithika Linturi, respectively, President Ruto has directed them to, within a year, double the milk processed at the Kenya Cooperative Creameries from 1.5 million litres daily.
The President also wants talks with 26 cooperatives finalised to ensure they grow maize to avert the shortages faced and bring unga prices down, with an equally ambitious target of modernising all ginneries to protect cotton growing and revive Kenya’s fledgling clothes industry.
The Ministry of Energy, led by ‘comeback kid’ Davis Chirchir, has been tasked to provide electricity to 250 schools and markets by June and provide all schools with liquefied petroleum gas by the end of the year.
Read: President Ruto directs Cabinet to align operations to bottom-up model
The government will also be expected to stop buying electricity from an expensive thermal (diesel) power plant that has been selling to Kenya Power at a significantly higher price than others. The ministry has been tasked to ensure power lines like Turkwel-Kitale are completed and the Menengai Geothermal plant to start feeding the national grid.
According to details obtained by the Sunday Nation, the former Kandara MP Alice Wahome-led Water ministry has been tasked with ensuring the beginning of works on the multibillion Karemenu Dam in Gatundu this month, and that of Murang’a’s Northern Water Collector Tunnel next month, as the government aims to have construction of 95 dams started in the next six to 18 months as well as having sunk 150 boreholes and 800 pans.
Similarly, Ms Wahome has been tasked with ensuring the review of laws to allow the private sector to help in the building of dams, as well as ensuring the success of the multibillion-shilling Galana Kulalu project, also in partnership with the private sector.
Environment CS Soipan Tuya has been tasked with planting 1.5 billion trees annually, with Dr Ruto targeting 15 billion in 10 years.
Ms Tuya, a two-term Narok Woman Representative before her recent appointment, is also required to begin discussions to ensure use of five per cent of National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) is dedicated to environmental issues
