The quest for the “elusive” public goods excellence: Kenya’s experience with public service reforms

The paper tracks performance-oriented Civil Service Reforms (CSRs) in Kenya, noting hurdles and opportunities prevalent and suggests a robust model to inculcate a performance-oriented reforms culture. The article is informed by a review literature on civil service reforms and applications of performance measurements in civil service reforms in Kenya. Current performance-oriented reforms/practices and challenges therein are tracked to establish current status, obstacles/gaps to effective implementation identified, opportunities for improvement isolated and a robust model to inculcate a performance-oriented culture suggested for application. While noticeable progress has been made in the implementation of CSRs in Kenya, there evidently remain obstacles to implementation of performance-oriented civil service reforms. Civil service reforms ought to revolve around performance measurements; rewarding good performance and realigning resources to support desired changes and simultaneously stimulating competition amongst public entities so as to support superior public service delivery. The paper gauges civil service reforms in Kenya and particularly the extent to which the drive towards performance-oriented reforms has faired over time and suggests a holistic model to entrench a performance-oriented culture.