SPEECH BY MS. ANNE WAIGURU, CABINET SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING, DURING THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE SECOND MEDIUM TERM PLAN OF KENYA VISION 2030 AND OFFICIAL SIGNING OF THE PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS FOR MINISTRIES FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2013/14 ON THURSDAY 3RD OCTOBER, 2013

Your Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya

Your Excellency the Deputy President

Cabinet Secretaries Present

Principal Secretaries Present

Your Excellency’s the Ambassadors,

Ad-Hoc Task Force Members

Senior Public Officers,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Your Excellency,

I take this opportunity to welcome all of you to the official launch of the Second Medium Term Plan of Kenya Vision 2030 and the signing of the Performance Contracts for Ministries for FY2013/14. This is the culmination of a process spearheaded by my Ministry involving various stakeholders who gave useful inputs and insights towards ensuring that the final MTP and performance contracts contain key aspects aimed at making Kenya a globally competitive and prosperous nation. At the national level various fora have been held to sensitize the new Cabinet Secretaries,

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Principal Secretaries and Heads of Parastatals on the Vision 2030 priority areas, implementation progress, and targets going forward. The Ministry has also held County consultative fora to get the input of stakeholders in all 47 counties in Kenya. The issues raised during these forums have been incorporated in the final document. I would like to thank all those who were involved in this process.

Your Excellency,

The first Medium Term Plan (MTP 2008-2012) of Vision 2030 laid the implementation framework and registered significant progress in terms of modernization and development of infrastructure such as: airports, airstrips, the road network, expansion of electricity connectivity, market centres; laying of undersea fibre optic cable; dredging of the port of Mombasa to deepen the channel; and construction of a second container terminal at the Mombasa Port. Progress has also been achieved in the social sectors and the development of the country’s human resources. In addition, the Constitution of Kenya 2010 is a one of the remarkable accomplishments under the first Medium Term Plan.

Despite the achievements made during the first MTP, Kenya still faces significant development challenges. The key ones include: low domestic savings and investments, GDP growth targets shortfalls, high levels of unemployment, high energy costs, economic and social disparities, rapid and unplanned urbanisation, insecurity, high dependence on rain-fed agriculture and low agricultural productivity. All these issues will need to be addressed effectively under the Second MTP.

Your Excellency,

In addition to the targets espoused in the Economic, Social, and Political Pillars, the Second MTP has taken into account and incorporated various emerging issues and trends. Under the

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Economic Pillar for example, an additional sector focusing on Oil and other Mineral Resources has been added, bringing the number of the priority sectors in the Pillar to seven.

Under the enablers of the Vision, two thematic areas have been added. These are: the National Value System and Disaster Risk Management. Some changes have also been effected in the flagship projects across all Pillars and the enablers. It should also be noted that devolution is the core flagship agenda under the Political Pillar.

Your Excellency,

The Ministry has further facilitated the preparation of County Development Profiles for all the 47 counties with the aim of providing the baseline information for the counties. The profiles, supported by the guidelines issued on preparation of County Integrated Development Plans, have ensured that there is standardization in all the CIDPs being produced by the counties.

The Ministry of Devolution and Planning will play a leading role in supporting the realization of the aspirations of the second MTP. This includes collaboration with the National Treasury and other stakeholders in reviewing the relevant policies and strategies in order to ensure that there is stability in the macroeconomic environment, that sets the framework for the 10% GDP economic growth rate envisaged in the Vision 2030.

More importantly, the Ministry will carry out regular tracking of progress in implementation of the policies and programmes through preparation of quarterly and annual progress reports which will cover activities at both the national and devolved levels.

Your Excellency,

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For the above reason, we are elated by today’s ceremony that conjoins the launch of the MTP with the signing of performance contracts by Cabinet Secretaries.

As you are all aware, the performance contracting system, has contributed to remarkable improvement in public service delivery, since its inception in 2004. In addition, the system is credited for changing the attitudes of public officers by focusing them on results and citizen service rather than emphasis on processes. For this reason, H.E. The President, during the swearing-in ceremony of Cabinet Secretaries, directed that the implementation of performance contracts, would continue to be a deliberate strategy of turning around the performance of the public service, in order to achieve accelerated economic development and improved standards of living for the people”. This emphasis falls within our mantra that stipulates “what gets measured gets done”.

Two major changes have been effected by the coming into force of the new constitution; the first is a change to a presidential system. It is for this reason that today the contracts will be signed between H.E. Excellency The President and Cabinet Secretaries, as a contractual commitment to deliver on the agenda that will ensure that the economy grows by double digits – in order to create jobs for the youth and improve the quality of life of the Kenyans, an agenda being driven by the President himself.

The second major change is the shift from a unitary state to a devolved system of government. Devolution is now a reality and county governments are already in place. This marks a fundamental shift in the way the performance management accountability with regard to functions that were previously undertaken by national government and are now within the ambit of county governments.

Your Excellency,

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The Ministry has made various modifications to the performance contracts as we previously knew them. First, there is included a peer review element, that will ensure that as Cabinet Secretaries we support each other in achieving our collective responsibility as a Cabinet. There is a realization that the success of government is as good as the weakest link. For this reason, Cabinet Secretaries will work together at sharpening each other in the achievement of our collective responsibility.

Secondly, in the same spirit, the performance contracting is moving from a ranking of ministries, that was based on sectoral assessment to a within ministry assessment. This will involve establishing a baseline measure, against which a ministry will strive to improve. In doing this we will be creating a dynamic incentive within the respective ministry for continuous improvement.

Thirdly, two critical performance indicators on tracking “Youth and Women Empowerment”, and “Ease of Doing Business” have also been introduced. These are in line with the government’s commitment to supporting women and youth enterprises, so as to ensure that government policies such as preferences and reservations are effectively implemented. Similarly, we will seek to track performance on interventions towards providing an enabling environment for investment.

Your Excellency,

The Kenyan citizen desires an effective and efficient public service that will provide world class services. They want to see a public service that is professional, dynamic and ethical – one that is motivated to perform in a manner that will dramatically improve public service delivery and transform their lives. They want to associate themselves with a public service that will quickly deliver the national development goals and aspirations - a

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public service that they trust can take them to the promises of Vision 2030.

For this reason therefore, we have also provided for a framework of public participation by entrenching public declaration of targets, as well as capturing, public perception performance and review of quality and standards of services received. The process of performance evaluation will further entail undertaking a mid-year review every January in order to ensure that public institutions and sectors are on track in achieving their performance targets, and to address any factors hindering performance.

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Your Excellency,

The other major departure from past practice is that, due to the implementation of the devolved system of government, there will be no performance contracts between the county governments and the national government, as was the case before, when the defunct local authorities signed performance contracts with the central government. However, county governments should be aware of the requirements of the County Governments Act (Article 47 and Article 113) that requires county governments to design performance management plans for evaluating the performance of county public service and implementation of county plans.

To this end, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning will be at hand to offer capacity building and technical assistance to county governments on building their performance management capacities, as is required by the Constitution. As we speak for example, the Nairobi County Government has requested for this support and we have assisted them to identify performance indicators, set targets and vet their performance contracts.

Your Excellency,

In conclusion, the transformation agenda we envision will go a long way in providing the most effective and promising means of improving the performance of public enterprises and the attainment of our Vision 2030. We look forward to the ensuing results of service delivery, for economic development for the renewed hope of our people.

It is now my pleasure to welcome His Excellency the President to make his Keynote Address.

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Thank You

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