An angry President William Ruto on Tuesday morning lambasted top officials in his administration for arriving late for the signing of performance contracts at State House.

President publicly demanded written explanations from the Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries raising issue with them for not taking the ceremony seriously.

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki and his Trade counterpart Moses Kuria are reported to be the only CSs who failed to sign their performance contracts during the event that was aired live.

“I don't know whether it is this performance contracts that have been going on for 20 years that many people maybe mistakenly think that it is a ritual and that is why people resort to the old incompetent excuses that there was traffic for them not to be in the most important public function,” wondered Ruto.

He warned the latecomers not to use traffic in Nairobi as an excuse for their lateness as it emerged that government officials who arrived late were locked outside State House gates.

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“For those who came late and they are members of the Executive, I will be expecting a written explanation and it should not include matters of traffic on why they did not take these performance contracts seriously.

“Because if you don't take them seriously it means that we don't take the contract with the people of Kenya on performance seriously and that can be a very serious indictment on anybody.”

Ruto warned that such officials may face the sack if they do not take their roles seriously.

“We have a job because we have a contract, if you cannot keep time with your employer you have basically dismissed yourself, it is just as simple as that,” Ruto warned.

The government adopted performance contracting 20 years ago under President Mwai Kibaki to measure the performance of ministries and state agencies in service delivery.

Ruto warns pledges to hold tough stance on “incompetent” government officers

The President pledged to hold all government officials to account for actions they take while in office and said he will deal decisively with corruption, negligence, misuse of public funds.

He criticized many of the senior officials he appointed into his administration, including Principal Secretaries, for lacking awareness on projects happening in their own ministries.

“I have found that many of you don’t know anything that is happening in your ministry through our interactions. I call many PSs and ask them what is happening and yet they are not aware of what is happening. How do you run a ministry without information? That is the highest level of incompetence,” he barked.

He asked the CSs and PSs present to take their mandates in the public service seriously and adhere to provisions of their performance contracts during their tenure in office.

“I urge you to maintain high-level standards of professionalism and keep a copy of the performance contract so that you can hold yourself accountable.”

Kenyans wait to see what actions, if any, will be taken against the officials who were late for the key event, those who fail to execute their mandates and those found engaging in graft.