Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Wednesday reassured the country that the grand coalition government was at their service irrespective of their ethnic and socioeconomic status in the society.
Speaking during the launch of the Public Service Delivery Charter in Nairobi, Odinga stressed that the coalition administration was an "open government that belongs to Kenyans because it is your tax that pays our salaries, this is a new era and you should feel free to be served your status not withstanding".
"We want to build a strong united country without biases and corruption so that the citizens can feel proud to seek services in public offices. The government must reflect what the people seek," he said.
"Kenyans have proven to us that they know their power and have the ability to throw out not only the MPs but government itself. I support their campaigns to demand total accountability from the government."
Odinga, whose party formed a coalition government with President Mwai Kibaki after the disputed December presidential elections early this year, said the public services offered must reflect and adhere to the demands of the citizenry and declared that the era when "the government was king and saw leaders elevated from people's servants to masters was long gone.
He declared that the culture of impunity and corruption was over and warned public servants abetting the trend that their days were numbered while urging the public to report officers demanding bribes for necessary disciplinary action.
He said the government should be held responsible by the citizen for any malpractices adding that plans to computerize systems were to "enhance transparency, accountability and good governance."
The 63-year-old former opposition leader said the dawning of an era of transparency and accountability in governance had come and extolled Kenyans for agitating for quality public service in recent times.
The premier regretted that public funds went down the drain due to bureaucracies, which could be avoided noting that the desired economic growth in the country could not be realized unless the deeply entrenched barriers to progress were unlocked.
He said it was time Kenyans took control of government services as the primary users contrary to events that characterized the previous regimes when the tax payers were compelled to part with kickbacks to get attention in public offices.
He said the modernization of government operations was to minimize loopholes through which graft thrived and inculcate zero tolerance to the vice which he said could undermine delivery of public services.
Raila who was the chief guest during the launch of the Public Service Delivery Charter at the Kenyatta International Conference Center announced that a Complaint Standing Committee was constituted to initiate feedback mechanism from the public.
He said the committee was in the process of building a complaint handling capacity to strengthen public sector institutions and improve service delivery based on factual data with a view to institute legislative reforms in the civil service.
Raila however cautioned the civil servants against discourtesy and lethargy in the delivery of services to the tax payers and told them to discard the retrogressive culture and attitude while discharging duties in public office.
"We have to exterminate the existing cultures that hinder provision of quality services; there is no room for the attitude that members of the public have the exclusive responsibility to pursue their files and claims in corridors of government offices" he stressed.
Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno urged the public to provide frank feedback through the available mechanism to ensure that their genuine concerns were dealt with accordingly.
He assured the public that the historical doubts shrouding the efficiency of public servants was transformed and that the sector was currently customer service oriented and open to scrutiny by the stakeholders. instituted to initiate feedback mechanism from the public.
Source:Xinhua
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