The government seems to be an
employment bureau that does not demand
accountability and results and that is
why our tax shillings are squandered
by a lethargic public sector that awaits
the annual auditor general’s report to
enumerate its many shortcomings. The public and private sector are never like-
ly to find a common ground for the good of
the country so long as the government mo-
dus operandi is spending frivolously money
that is made by the private sector.
One unfortunate byproduct of this
experiment was opening the eyes of the
legislators to the massive disparity in
wages between the public and private
sector and the members of parliament set
out to redress what they deemed unfair
with a vengeance. sipped into the fabric of the society
and cabinet posts are still made with
political considerations rather than on
the development agenda. Poll losers
who happen to represent important
constituencies are still finding their way
into the cabinet.
This was in total disregard to the fact that
the private sector wage scale is pegged
to output and you can earn astronomical
salaries so long as it is commensurate to
productivity and the bottom line is the
final arbiter of success. Public sector jobs have become too
lucrative that the lobby that goes into
landing such jobs, be it as the head of the
unit or simply as a member of the board are
highly sought. The aim is always to fleece
the organization pretending to support a
dubious political agenda.
Such a measure is not available in
the public sector and the members of
parliament have turned the house into a
private gravy train where they arbitrarily
set their salaries and perks at the taxpayers
cost with total abandon.
But equally sad was that many members
of the private sector that were drawn into
the experiment soon realized that public
sector offered real opportunity to quick
wealth so long as one was willing to bend
the rules.
Many private sector operatives that
have ventured into public service have
done so with a singular objective of
enriching themselves especially in the
parastatals where raping the organization
was rewarded by a transfer to another
parastatal.
This thieving culture, long resident in
the public sector has been refined and
perfected by private sector operatives
who have delighted in trading their
stressful performance based jobs to cushy
jobs where expenditure is not related to
output.
Trying to ensure that the Executive
would work with professionals to deliver
campaign promises the new constitution
divorced the executive from parliament.
If you are appointed to the cabinet and
you were a member of parliament you
relinquished the house seat.
Unfortunately
the
rot
had
already
During Moi’s era we saw many private
sector professionals and even the
academics plucked out of jobs where they
were making positive impact in society
and transplanted to jobs that they had no
clue of but they joined the gravy train.
What is sad is that some of those that
made the crossover from the private sector
were stars in their roles but their stars
dimmed to obscurity in their public sector
roles as they were sucked in by the public
sector culture of thievery.
It is interesting to note that those that
got fired from the public sector went
back to the private sector and their stars
resumed their bright ascent. It is as if the
decision to stay in the public sector is a
tacit acceptance to contract the cancer of
corruption.
There are many private sector operatives
that are awaiting court cases where they
were set up by their public sector colleagues
that were quietly resisting a performance
based working style and wished to be left
alone to continue stealing public funds
unabated.
We have argued in the past that we are
led by thugs because professionals in the
private sector shun politics and we end
up electing societal dregs but it seems it
is virtually impossible for private sector
professionals to transition into public
service and remain professional.
And once bitten by the public sector
bug it is rare that one thinks of going
into the private sector because they find
it difficult to become accountable after a
stint of carefree and unsupervised working
environment.
The new constitution made a bad situation
worse by intentionally creating a blotted
work force and the culture of getting
freebies from the government is so
entrenched that it is actually distressing
that the Punguza Mzigo initiative is being
fought vigorously.
The public and private sector are never
likely to find a common ground for
the good of the country so long as the
government modus operandi is spending
frivolously money that is made by the
private sector.
The bloated government using the tax
authorities at both the national and
county levels have perfected the art of
collecting the money but have not put in
place measures to ensure that the money is
spent wisely.
Spending money without productive
outcomes is alien to the private sector but
as we have discussed quite normal in the
public sector. These divergent mindsets
make it impossible for a private sector
operative to succeed in the public sector
unless they embrace corruption.
Yet to make the best use of our national
human resource we must find a formula
that works otherwise the much touted
public private partnership which we see
as a viable avenue to development will
remain a pipedream in economic theory
books.
The cover piece was crafted by Mr.
Mutua M. Mutua, a seasoned
Marketing hand specialist and
trainer. For feedback or any more
discourse please drop us a line at:
[email protected].