Ruku: Govt to introduce attendance register for all civil servants

Nancy Marende 15th July, 2025 01:54 PM

Geoffrey Ruku during his swearing-in. Photo//@Geoffrey Ruku/X

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku has announced plans to roll out a mandatory attendance register for all civil servants across the country.

Speaking on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, during an inspection tour of the Central Regional Headquarters in Nyeri County, Ruku said the government would begin engaging supervisors at all levels, from sub-county to national, to implement the reforms.

“Moving forward, we are going to get in touch with all the supervisors from the sub-county, level, regional, and national. And we are going to introduce an attendance register to ensure each employee has a schedule of duties and also to ensure adherence to the staff performance appraisal system,” he said.

Additionally, Ruku revealed that the Ministry of Public Service will soon conduct a baseline survey to assess employee satisfaction across ministries and state departments.

The survey will cover regional, county, and sub-county offices and is expected to inform future policy adjustments aimed at improving working conditions and performance.

“We are also going to carry out a baseline survey as a ministry to understand the satisfaction level of employees within the ministries and state departments across regional, county, and sub-county offices,” he said.

Nyeri

During his Nyeri inspection, Ruku revealed a stark contrast in punctuality among different departments. Staff at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and Huduma Centre achieved a commendable punctuality rate of 98–100 per cent.

However, attendance across other government departments stood at less than 50 per cent as of 8:00 a.m., the official reporting time as per the 2016 Public Service Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual.

The manual stipulates a 40-hour workweek for public officers, running from Monday through Friday. Standard hours are 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in most regions, with Mombasa and northern counties operating slightly earlier, beginning at 7:30 a.m.

As a result, he has warned government employees who report to work late or disappear during official working hours, saying such individuals will henceforth be treated as ghost workers.