Koskei gives ministries 21 days to enforce discipline in public service
By Nancy Marende, July 30, 2025Head of Public Service Felix Koskei has issued a firm directive to all government ministries, departments, and agencies to implement a new discipline enforcement framework within 21 days.
In a statement on July 30, 2025, Koskei stated that the directive is part of a broader effort to enhance performance, accountability, and integrity across the public service.
Koskei revealed that the directive followed a consultative session with a high-level consultative meeting with principal secretaries and departmental heads in charge of legal, human resources, audit, and procurement.
“All Ministries, Departments & Agencies are required to cascade the framework, conduct officer briefings, obtain signed acknowledgements and submit compliance returns within twenty-one days,” read the statement.
Koskei emphasised that improving efficiency in public service requires not only high standards but also prompt and consistent consequences for failure to meet them.
“We agreed on concrete steps to operationalise the Matrix of Legal Consequences for Infractions, a structured framework intended to guide responses to persistent lapses in a manner that is fair, consistent, and grounded in existing laws and policies,” he stated.
Under the new directive, all government entities are required to:
- Cascade the framework within their departments.
- Conduct officer briefings to explain the new discipline standards.
- Obtain signed acknowledgements from staff.
- Submit compliance returns within 21 days.
Koskei warned that disregard for lawful instructions and repeated failure to meet performance targets will attract structured sanctions.
“The message is clear and consistent. Administratively, the rules are known, and so are the consequences. Disregard of lawful instructions will attract formal reprimand or corrective action. Repeated failure to meet performance targets will trigger structured interventions or sanctions as appropriate.”
Civil servants
This comes a few weeks after Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku warned government employees who report to work late or fail to appear during official working hours, stating that such individuals will henceforth be treated as ghost workers.
Speaking during his inspection of the Central Regional Headquarters in Nyeri County on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, Ruku expressed his displeasure with the growing culture of absenteeism and laxity within the public sector.
Everybody working in any government office who doesn’t report to work at the required time, and those who report to work and disappear, we shall be treating them as ghost workers moving forward,” he said.
“Most of you who are late, you are not different from my definition of a ghost worker. You receive a salary from the people of Kenya, you are reporting to work at the right time, you get to the office at 9:00 am and leave at 11:00 am, and therefore, you are just a ghost worker,” he said.
Ruku emphasised that the government would no longer tolerate such behaviour, announcing immediate enforcement actions targeting latecomers.