Ruku Orders Public Entities to Comply with Employees Data Onboarding Directive
Public Service cabinet secretary Geoffrey Ruku. (Photo/ Courtesy)
By Mbungu Harrison
Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com
Public Service cabinet secretary Geoffrey Ruku has ordered the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and the Public Service Commission to expedite the onboarding of all government agencies staff data onto the Human Resource Information System.
Ruku warned that salaries would be withheld from non-compliant institutions.
Addressing HR professionals during their annual congress in Mombasa on Friday, May 29, 2026, the CS regretted that only 47 out of 575 state agencies had been onboarded to the HRS platform.
“There should be no excuse for government agencies and state parastatals failing to onboard their employees’ data to the system,” he said.
He directed SRC to ensure all human resource instruments were made available to his ministry for immediate onboarding.
“I call upon SRC and the Public Service Commission to expedite and ensure all other government agencies that are yet to submit their human resource data do so as quickly as possible,” he warned.
The minister said the government would take stern action against agencies dragging their feet.
“We will not pay salaries and allowances to agencies that have not onboarded their staff to HRS.”
He defended the platform saying it was robust and secured with proper firewalls to manage the government workforce.
He dismissed proposals for remote working in certain public service fields.
“There is no way a police officer and a doctor could work from home as per the proposal. Some jobs are not applicable for remote work.”
The CS urged HR professionals to uphold integrity and help government seal revenue leakages.
“I challenge all of us as HR leaders to streamline recruitment and performance management, and to ensure workforce structures adapt to changing environments.”
He singled out management of the public wage bill as a critical issue warning against irregular payments, duplicated payslips, and ghost workers.
“Irregular payments, duplicated payslips and ghost workers are areas where public resources are lost.”
He cited the police service saying there were scenarios where officers continued drawing salaries despite being off the payroll.
The minister assured HR professionals of government support, but told public servants to deliver services efficiently.
“Public servants from all ministries must ensure we do what is right and offer the right services to Kenyans.”
He asked HR managers to deal with sexual harassment cases that were reported at their desks.
Some of these cases should not be tolerated in our station,whether in NGO,private sector and in government,” he said.
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