Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 Minister Hon. Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, Assistant Minister Hon. Peter Kenneth and Permanent Secretary Dr. Edward Sambili led the Ministry’s staff in the celebrations presided over by Minister of State for Public Service Hon. Dalmas Otieno at Carnivore in Nairobi.

The festivity offered the employees an opportunity to interact with each other and their seniors through team building activities as they reflected on the need for teamwork in realization of the impressive results.

Speaking during the occasion Hon. Oparanya expressed satisfaction noting that it was not a mean achievement. He recalled that at the time he came at the Ministry in early 2008 the results for the 2007/2008 were released and at the time the Ministry took position 35 out of 36 Ministries at the time.

“After the dismal performance we put in place various committees and came up with strategies which ensured our improvement. In the 2008/2009 results we were ranked at position five. Today we must be very motivated because being number one is not a joke,” he said.

The minister urged his staff to put in more extra effort in service delivery as the Ministry provides leadership in planning for the nation.

“The biggest challenge is maintaining the first position and we therefore must be proactive in line with the new constitution. Our Semi Autonomous Government Agencies must also move with speed and take position in all the 47 counties,” he said.

Hon. Peter Kenneth expressed similar sentiments and urged the Government to allocate the Ministry with adequate resources for the benefit of the public.

“We have good planners but the allocation of resources still remains our biggest problem as the resources allocated do not match the planners,” he said.

On his part Hon. Dalmas Otieno congratulated the Ministry saying he was proud to associate himself with champions.

“The performance of your Ministry is a true demonstration of commitment in the public sector. All Kenyans need to know that we are in competition with the rest of the world,” he said.

Dr. Sambili said that now the Ministry’s main focus is on capacity building especially through training staff in relevant areas.

Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor Prof. Olive Mugenda, who was invited as Motivational Speaker for the event, enticed the crowd with her presentation on transformation.
Prof. Mugenda explained that transformation requires thoughtfully planned change and narrated how she had steered Kenyatta University through introducing various projects at the institution.