Rt. Hon.(Eng) Raila Amolo Odinga

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 951 to 960 of 1732.

• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, until the last fiscal year, there were no standards against which performance targets were set. It was largely a matter of negotiation by the PSs. There was, therefore, no objective basis to compare performance across Ministries. As a result, the ranking of Ministries at times seems to diverge from the common perception of users of Government services. For this reason, the annual report on performance contracts was withdrawn last year. view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: In order to rectify this problem, performance benchmarks were introduced this year. Benchmarks are the norm based on international best practices, against which performance targets are set. Benchmarks also help Ministries to better be informed about management practices in planning, budgeting and linking with public aspirations. view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Government has, in this regard, put in place a set of remedial measures that it is taking to strengthen performance of Ministries that are rated poorly. Such measures include, among others, sharing of lessons learnt by the evaluators and placing a poorly performing Ministry on the programme of Rapid Results Initiative. Furthermore, punitive actions are taken through sanctions by the Government. For example, the names of poorly performing Ministries are published in the print and electronic media. A reprimand is issued to those Ministries by His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister. In addition, those ... view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have alluded to what we call “performance benchmarks”. These benchmarks are based on international best practices. There are targets that are set. This is done by expert consultants who have been contracted by the Government to do so. So, public servants are not allowed to arbitrarily set the benchmarks themselves. The benchmarks are set by professional consultants who look at practices in other countries that have introduced performance contracting like Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. Once the benchmarks have been set, the PS and the Minister sign the contract. In turn, other officers within the ... view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, indeed, there is continuous assessment. But I have said that this contract was signed at two levels. The first one is the one which is signed by the Ministers and their Permanent Secretaries with the Prime Minister. The second level is the one that is signed between the officers and their Permanent Secretary. The Permanent Secretary and the Minister commit themselves to achievement of certain performance targets. Therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that officers working under them achieve those targets. To do so, there is need for continuous assessment rather than waiting until the end ... view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, a CEO is a CEO, permanent or acting. They have an obligation to ensure that the office works efficiently. So, if there is an acting CEO, he is under an obligation to ensure that, that parastatal performs in accordance with the commitment as per the performance contract. view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the hon. Member is right in pointing out the three arms of Government; that is, the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. In the spirit of separation of powers, all these arms of Government are independent of each other. However, I have taken the liberty to recommend the other arms of Government; that is, the Legislature and Judiciary, to also introduce the performance contracts. I am happy to inform the hon. Members here that the Legislature has actually followed suit and introduced performance contracting. However, I must say that I have been disappointed at the reluctance of the Judiciary ... view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, performance contracting is relatively new in our governance structure. As I have mentioned, since its introduction, there have been some improvements but we are continuing to evaluate. Like right now, we are just about to release the results of last year on how the Ministries performed. Since this exercise is done objectively by independent people who are not part and parcel of the Government, the results will come out and poor performance will be revealed. This gives us an opportunity to deal with those officers or Ministries which are underperforming. For example, issues like an electricity pole ... view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I followed and I want to thank the hon. Member for raising that issue. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do not have a specific programme in the Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs. But, I know that that there are a number of similar cases where money has been provided by donors and the financial year ends before it has been spent. Sometimes, this happens because of the bureaucratic procedures that are attached to disbursement of some of these donor funds. It will require that the Government has, for example, completely complied with all the requirements. ... view
• 7 Apr 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the first part of the hon. Member’s question actually refers to Vision 2030 projects. We call them the flagship projects. Those projects are long term, especially the industrial parks, special economic zones and so on. We are in the process of implementing those projects. Those are not things that you wake up today and you begin to implement immediately. They require a lot of planning and mobilization of funds to be able to implement them. I want to assure view