Prime Cabinet Secretary Mudavadi Calls for Legal Framework Linking Performance to Promotions

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who also serves as Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, urged the creation of a legal framework that would tie public servants’ performance assessments to promotions and career advancement during the National Forum of County Public Service Boards Annual Convention in Kisumu on Monday.

He said performance contracts must move beyond routine administrative exercises and become enforceable obligations that reward efficiency, commitment and measurable results, adding that without such a framework they risk becoming mere bureaucratic formalities.

Mudavadi argued that employee assessments should be based on measurable outcomes, objective evaluations and transparent procedures so that merit and demonstrable productivity, rather than favouritism or routine processes, determine career progression.

Invoking the principle “Usawa ni Sawa,” he stressed that fairness and equal opportunity must be central to human-resource management, and that every public servant should have the chance to advance based on competence and results.

He challenged County Public Service Boards to strengthen merit-based recruitment, ensure fairness in HR management and create working environments that nurture talent, innovation and professional excellence.

Mudavadi reminded the boards of their constitutional duty to build professional, accountable county workforces capable of translating development priorities into tangible benefits for citizens, and said the success of devolution should be judged by service delivery rather than merely the existence of institutions.

He called for closer collaboration between national and county governments to modernise HR systems, improve institutional accountability and ensure efficient utilisation of public resources.

The convention brings together representatives from all 47 counties and other stakeholders to discuss human-resource management, institutional capacity, performance and productivity in devolved governments.