INTRODUCTION

A cabinet secretary is a senior official in a certain ministry like the Ministry of Interior and
Coordination of National Government who offers advises within his Ministry and provides
services to those within his or her ministry. Cabinet secretaries in Kenya are nominated by the
president who are later approved by the parliament. The process undergoes a public vetting
procedure. The cabinet secretaries in Kenya are not members of the parliament. They are there to
reduce the administrative problems and for efficiency, rationality and productivity. Cabinet
secretaries provides the members of the parliament with current reports concerning matters
relating to their areas of duties.e.g. In the ministry of Education, the cabinet secretary Dr. George
Magoha will take the policy of Competency Based Curriculum to the parliament in order for the
legislature to discuss the challenges facing the implementation of the policy. For instance, the
cabinet secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Mr. Najib Balala, will take a motion to the parliament
on low tourism income and how to improve the tourism sector.

WHAT IS NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

According to [Frank Martini,1971] defines New Public Administrative Theory as any anti
positivist, anti-technical and anti-hierarchical reaction against traditional Public administration.
This is an administrative that is concerned with the innovation and change. New Public
Administration has the following characteristics:

A] It stresses on decentralization of administration process. Through this power and authority is

dispersed downwards to the subordinates thus ensuring the policies are executed in a good
manner.

B] It focuses on social equity. Here, all individuals regardless of their wealth, status quo should
be treated equally according to how the law are formulated e.g. in the Kenyan constitution
2010.This enables the policy makers to ensure that there is fair and proper allocation and
distribution of resources to avoid disparities economically and socially.

C]Qualitative transformation: This is the encouragement of change in order to bring about

productivity efficiently.
D]Its anti-bureaucratic, anti-hierarchical and anti-technical. This encourages social change for
the betterment of Administration since it is the study of innovation and change. Therefore, as a
cabinet secretary in the administrative docket, one can apply the New Public Administration
Theory into administration of government in Kenya by:

 Accepting change
 Responsiveness
 Value
 Separation of powers
 Relevance
CHANGE

This brings about the reforms which enables parties concerned to work hard in order to retain
their position e.g. In the Ministry of Interior and coordination of National Government where
Administrative fails to implement the policy and become successful then the mode of implementation
changes e.g. if the administrators concerned are not productive, are inefficient and not delivering then,
they are demoted to a lower level or if the administrator is delivering the services efficiently the he
or she is promoted to a high level of management. According to Max Weber, he talks of positional
power as one of his principals that can make an organization successful, thus he emphasizes on
working hard and achieving the objectives to avoid dismissal. e.g. if one is a hard-working county
commissioner then he or she can be promoted to a regional coordinator. On the issue of change as a
cabinet secretary in the administrative docket one should ensure there is Legal Requirements for
maintaining Electronic Rule making Dockets. This is where the administration will file the reports
electronically and not manually so that the information will reach the office of the cabinet secretary
early enough for further investigations whether the policy has been implemented effectively or not.
If not, then one writes a report to the legislature who are responsible to check on the policy and say
whether it needs to be terminated or modified. According to [Drucker,1999:245] He urges that there
are a number of explosions that brought about change and the most important one is the one that was
provoked by information and biology in the 20th Century. Therefore, in 1946, the first computer
ENIAC was produced and this improved the information sector in the area of administration. A radical
change in the culture of administration is needed which is required by the ideas of the New Public
Management which include:
A] Concentration on leadership process and not on policy, public sector orientation on efficiency and
effectiveness.

B] Desegregating the public bureaucracy within agencies

C] Ensuring there is reduction of costs e.g. during civil registration, bringing security officers to the
grassroots to minimize man slaughter

D] Target service contracts with fixed term, monetary incentives and freedom of management.
According to [Matei 1999:110-113] urges in order to increase the expectations of the citizens
belonging to the local communities in public institutions and organizations, one has to improve the
managerial systems, research, evaluation and activity improvement. Through the use of ICTS there
is improved service delivery which is effective and a quality one. Therefore, as a cabinet secretary
who needs change in the administrative docket one is supposed to ensure that all the administration
from the grassroot e.g. the assistant chiefs, chiefs, all the administrative police officers through from
the civil registrations, births and deaths file there returns and reports through the use of technology.
Through this also other relevant information, are received easily and with no delay due to the use of
mails. This will improve the interaction at the level of the entire administration and will help in cutting
off the administrative expenses e.g. for an officer travelling to the office of the PS to issue a
recommendation letter of academic status, It will also enhance transparency and will make the public
services more efficient since there will be reduction of bureaucracy.

RESPONSIVENESS

Here, one is supposed to provide helpful, expeditious service to the public. Since the ethical basis of
responsiveness by the government is that it identifies the government as the instrument to serve the
people who established it for their benefit. According to the constitution of Kenya Article 130[1]
which states that the national executive of the Republic comprises ,the president, deputy president,
and the rest of the cabinet. One acts according to responsiveness when he or she is committed to
interact cooperatively and respectively with clients e.g. if a client enters in an administrative office,
and asks for help ,the administrator first is supposed to listen to him or her, try to understand what the
clients wants to express ,then be ready to offer the services required by the client or direct him or her
where he or she will be assisted. Things to be done by the cabinet secretary should do to ensure there
is high level of responsiveness are:
A] Ensuring that the offices are built near the clients e.g. most of the assistant chiefs, chiefs, assistant
county commissioners and some deputy county commissioners do not have offices and therefore for
the clients to reach them they need to be built offices up to the grassroots for effective delivery of
services .In this case also the administration can provide government services through mobile branch
offices to ensure each and every area of there jurisdiction, there is service delivery.

B] As a cabinet secretary one is supposed to empower his employees to resolve the problems on the
spot and not to bounce the client from one office to another. According to [Steve Cohen] he states
that successful public organizations, must have a can-do attitude.

C] Ensure the clients get access to government services that one wants and to which one is entitled
e.g. security, infrastructure etc. without discrimination especially considering one’s race, age, sex and
culture should not make one loose service.

D] Ensure there is public participation e.g. in development projects let citizens be involved in the
committee of making decisions as opinion leaders e.g. where, when and how to build security stations
like police stations, camps etc.

SEPARATION OF POWERS

The powers are distributed among organs of the state e.g. executives execute or implements the
policies, Legislature or parliament makes the policies and the judiciary interprets the policies.
Therefore, as a cabinet secretary one has ensure that there is separation of powers amongst the
administrators for effective delivery of services for the common good of the people. if one is a
Regional Coordinator, he or she supervises the County Commissioners as well as the county
commissioners delegating duties to the Deputy County Commissioners and them will be supervising
the Assistant County Commissioners. Separation of power is also known as the system of checks and
balances because each organ or administrator is given certain powers so as to check and balance the
other administrators.

IMPORTANT OF SEPARATION OF POWERS

A] Ensures the different administrators control themselves.

B] This ensures there is no abuse of powers.

C]It help in the safeguarding of the policies and gives one morale to offer services.

D]Encourages service delivery.

VALUE

This is the worthiness of something in the government. E.g. security, service delivery, policy
implementation. Being a cabinet secretary, one has to ensure that all the activities implemented or
executed are worth to both the citizens and the state itself. In government, public value refers to an
appraisal of what is created and sustained by government on behalf of the public. There are five values
of public administration. These are:

A] Transparency

B] Accountability

C]Ethics

D] Professionalism

E] Leadership and Integrity

RELEVANCE

This is where one is supposed to be closely connected to the one whom he or she is working with.This
happens when one visits various Regional ,County or Sub county offices. One learns the challenges
that are faced by different people on the process of giving and receiving of services and this enables
the Cabinet Secretary to have a good report to take to the legislature for action to be taken.

CONCLUSION

Through accepting change, being responsive, having separation of powers ,relevance and instilling
the values of public administration will make the field of administration in Kenya productive with the
citizens getting public services effectively.

REFERENCES