The government is set to pilot a new digital employee monitoring system by the end of October in a move aimed at improving accountability and service delivery within the public sector.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku revealed on Monday evening during an interview on KTN that a team of digital specialists has already been contracted to develop the system, which will be subjected to rigorous testing before being forwarded to Cabinet for discussion and approval.
According to Ruku, the platform will allow ministries, agencies, and state departments to accurately track employee attendance and manage leave records, including sick leave, annual leave, and absenteeism.
“As a government, we still do not have a platform that shows the exact number of employees in agencies, ministries, and state departments who are on leave at any given time. We have a team working on developing a digital application, and we want to test it by the end of October to see whether it meets the needs,” Ruku explained.
The CS further disclosed that the system is expected to play a key role in curbing graft in the public service, particularly through eliminating ghost workers who draw salaries without reporting to duty.
“If you are not accountable for what you do on a day-to-day basis, this platform will catch up with you before the end of this year. We have to be accountable to the people of Kenya,” he stated.
Ruku also underscored the importance of punctuality among public servants, stressing that timely reporting to workstations is central to improving efficiency in service delivery.
“We have to push the public servants to be at their workstations at the right time. The people of Kenya must see that those who are in charge are pushing the people who are supposed to work in the right direction,” he reiterated.
The piloting of the digital monitoring platform marks part of ongoing reforms within the public service, as the government moves to enhance accountability, weed out corruption, and ensure Kenyans receive efficient and bias-free services.
