Treasury secretary Henry Rotich. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The Public Service Commission (PSC) says centralisation of
government advertising has led to delays in announcements of vacancies
and denied many applicants wishing to join the civil service the
opportunity to do so.
The commission says it is unable
to reach a wide pool of potential applicants as envisaged. “The
commission experienced a number of challenges in the performance of its
functions.
Some include centralisation of
advertisements to the Government Advertising Agency (GAA) leading to
delays in advertisement of vacancies and inability to reach the widest
pool of potential applicants as planned,” the commission said in a
report to Parliament.
The government in July 2015
created a centralised agency to handle all its media advertising. It was
meant to consolidate and manage advertising with the aim of cutting
costs.
In a circular, Treasury secretary Henry Rotich informed the
Attorney-General, principal secretaries, chief executives of all State
corporations and independent constitutional commissions of the creation
of the GAA, a body charged with authorising public sector advertising
and managing consolidated government advertising funds.
Creation
of the agency was part of a government austerity drive that has failed
to take off. It was meant to cut government spending on travel,
hospitality and advertising, but so far only the publicity budget has
been cut while the other budget lines continue to rise.
Under
the Treasury’s directive, accounting officers are required to submit
quarterly advertising plans to GAA. Cabinet secretaries are also
required to ensure that adverts exceeding Sh3 million are submitted to
the GAA for approval.
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