Local Governance & Development Journal Volume 2 Number 2, December 2008: pages 24-39

Copyright Municipal Development Partnership for Eastern & Southern Africa

Materials for this publication may be quoted or copied provided proper reference is made to its source.
ISSN: 1995-4719

Applying Rapid Results Approach to Local Service Delivery:

Emerging Issues, Lessons and Challenges from Nairobi City
Council
MARK OSICHE
ABSTRACT
Over the years, the Kenya Government has pursued wide-ranging public sector reforms to improve local
service delivery, but little has been achieved due to lack of a wide-ranging decentralization policy and
institutional framework. To precipitate the reform process, the Rapid Results Approach (RRA), commonly
used to turn around the fortunes of private sector organizations, was recently introduced thorough out the
public sector, including local authorities. This paper critically analyzes the efficacy of the Rapid Results
Initiative methodology in local service delivery using Nairobi City Council as a prototype; highlighting the
success stories, pitfalls and challenges. The analyses are based on the findings obtained using current
literature on the subject matter, the authors experience and anecdotal evidence from the council staff,
councillors and other stakeholders. On the basis of the analysis, the paper draws the main conclusions and
policy advice on what could be considered critical for further debate, highlighting issues that could be raised
to improve the practice of RRI. It is hoped that the key messages presented here will help scholars and
practitioners of reform to re-think envisaged replication of RRI to the rest of LAs.
Key words: Rapid Results Approach/Initiatives; public sector and local governance reforms in Kenya.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
As a global phenomenon, the New Public Management (NPM) a cluster of contemporary management
ideas, practices, techniques that seek, at their core, to use private sector and business approaches in the
public sector (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2003:p.12) - has increasingly had a beneficial impact on the
management and delivery of some public services. As in other Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), public sector
reforms in Kenya have evolved over time. Broadly speaking, there have been three major waves of reforms
sweeping across the country, notably: i) restructuring the public service (mid-1980s mid-1990s), iii)
capacity building (late 1990s) and (iii) improved service delivery since 2000 (Mutahaba and Kiragu, 2002:
pp. 50-53). The later wave is germane for this study. In the last decade or so, the Government of Kenya
(GoK) has by and large adopted a genre of broad sectoral public sector reforms as a part of the process of
state redesign.
Regrettably, these reforms have not been realized, having been torpedoed by the lack of clear and enabling
policy, institutional and legal framework, resulting in piecemeal and expedient changes that have had little
impact on service delivery. Consequently, Kenya continues to be highly centralized, despite lip service to
quasi decentralization. Recent literature increasingly demonstrates that owing to the uncertainty surrounding
the introduction of the requisite wide-ranging policy, institutional and legal reforms in the local government
sub-sector, Kenya has since the mid-1990s initiated incremental reforms (Oyugi, 2005:pp. 1-6 and
Steffensen et al, 2004: p.16). These foremost, have focused on improving the softer fiscal aspects of Local
Authorities (LAs) without, to date, substantial institutional and policy streamlining.

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The draft 2004 Constitution, if adopted as intended would have perhaps heralded the start of a
comprehensive decentralization programme based on devolution. Yet, at the time of writing, the whole
process had been discarded indefinitely after the Government-backed draft Constitution was crushingly
rejected during the November, 2005 national referendum. In anticipation of resumption of the stalled
constitutional review process, the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) has embarked on drafting various
local government laws and amendments that seek to strengthen the capacity of LAs to deliver services to
their citizens. Even so, these efforts have hit a snag and the draft Local Government (Amendment) Bill
continued to gather dust after the dissolution of Parliament to pave way for the December, 2007 General
Elections, ostensibly having been overtaken by events because of constitutional requirement that the
Government side must get a two-thirds majority (Ogosia, 2007). This was not possible because of
irreconcilable divisions in the ninth Parliament (2003 2007).
To move forward, LAs have been incorporated into the ongoing introduction and rolling out of the innovative
Results Based Management (RBM) approach to public sector transformation by the Public Service Reform
and Development Secretariat, Cabinet Office, Office of the President under the motto huduma bora ni haki
yako (good service is your right). It is largely funded by the World Banks Institutional Reform and Capacity
Building Technical Assistance Project (IRCB-TAP) and to some extent the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP). To fast-track the implementation of RBM and speed up the public sector-wide
achievement of the desired results, the Rapid Results Approach (RRA), encompassing a series of Rapid
Results Initiatives (RRIs) has been introduced. By the time of writing, the approach had initially been piloted
in 4 (i.e. Municipal Councils of Nyeri, Mombasa, and Kisumu and the City Council of Nairobi) out of the 175
LAs. The intention is to experiment with these pilots before developing a nation-wide replication strategy to
ultimately put all LAs on RRI.
On the one hand, proponents hypothesize that barring the long-awaited but elusive long-term policy and
legal framework, RRI has been seen by the Government as an important tool to jump-start change process
because of its potential impact can be very high, demonstrating that tangible results can be achieved
speedily. For instance, it can improve service delivery while positively boosting LAs widely held reputation
of being unresponsive, unaccountable, corrupt, bureaucratic, insular and lethargic in service delivery.
Conversely, cynics assert that RRI as presently packaged is untenable and inappropriate quick fix in the
context of Kenyas local government system and contend that it is just too early to celebrate its
effectiveness. What is clear is that both sides agree that RRI is a noble innovation in local government
service delivery, but cannot agree on to what extent.
Against this background and contentious standpoints, this article seeks to critically analyze the efficacy of
the RRIs in local service delivery using Nairobi City Council as a prototype. The case study is based on the
findings obtained using current literature on the subject matter, the authors experience and anecdotal
evidence from the council staff, councillors and other stakeholders.
More specifically, this study seeks to thoroughly interrogate a number of fundamental research questions,
viz: a) What are the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of RRI and how does it work in practice? b)
Given the failure to implement comprehensive local government reforms, is RRI the best option in improving
service delivery? c) Is RRI in sync with the realities of the current legal and policy framework? d) To what
extent has RRI helped Nairobi City Council to jump-start major change efforts and enhance service
delivery? e) What emerging lessons, challenges and opportunities can be discerned from the Nairobi City
Council experience in implementing RRI prior to replication to other LAs?
This paper is made of the above introduction and three parts: an overview of the underlying conceptual and
theoretical foundations of the Rapid Results Approach by describing its salient attributes, content and
dynamics; presentation of the complexity of the emerging issues, experience, lessons learned, quick wins,
pressures and increasing challenges of RRI implementation in the case of Nairobi City Council under the

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prevailing conditions. In so doing, a critical assessment is made on the reasons why certain aspects of RRI
turned successful while others have got stuck or had consequences opposite to the intended objectives.
Finally, there are the main conclusions and policy advice on what could be considered critical for further
debate, highlighting issues that could be raised to improve the practice of RRI. It is hoped that the key
messages presented here will help scholars and practitioners of reform to re-think envisaged replication of
RRI to the rest of LAs.
CONCEPTUAL AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF RAPID RESULTS APPROACH
This part highlights the broad conceptual and theoretical underpinnings for the introduction of RRI as a
critical approach in public sector management. This is predicated upon the premise that in the lightning-fast
business landscape of the 21st century, managers are expected to produce solid results, quickly. Put
differently, in the business world, it's all about rapid results.
Initially designed to turn around the fortunes of projects and activities in the private corporate world, RRI
principles have been used to improve public sector performance. Most traditional change or reform efforts
have miserably failed because they include a number of valuable elements such as training, new policies
and procedures, new processes and structures, elaborate mission and vision statements, communication
campaigns etc, which can be time and resource consuming. While these elements are important, they lack
the urgency and excitement that comes from working on the achievement of short term compelling results.
In the respected opinion of the pioneer gurus of RRA, the key to creating widespread, lasting progress
begins with achieving rapid results at the micro-level as you engineer small victories, your company will
build a solid foundation for future, more global success (Schaffer and Ashkenas, 2005: pp. 1-3). The gist of
this publication is that twofold. One, that one of the best routes to large-scale innovation is, paradoxically,
through short-term achievement projects. If organized properly, these rapid-change projects not only deliver
bottom-line results quickly but also can develop in hundreds or thousands of people the essential capacity to
carry out co-ordinated change. Two, the approach challenges leaders to liberate themselves from
dependence on big-fix programs driven from the top-down orientation that often collapse for lack of
implementation skills and know-how at grass-roots level.
Since then, the approach has been applied extensively in partnership with the World Bank in a number of
Bank-financed institutional development lending projects globally to fast-track implementation processes.
Over the past few years, dozens of teams from African and other countries have been able to achieve
remarkably unusual results in 100 days or less results that were hitherto unthinkable at the outset of these
efforts, and that have surprised government officials who commissioned these teams as well as observers
from development partners (Matta, 2005:pp. 2-3). Examples include: Nicaragua to improve production and
sale of milk; Eritrea - HIV/AIDS, malaria, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Tuberculosis project; Sri Lanka
Anti-Retroviral (ARV) treatment program; Madagascar - accelerated cotton growing and production;
Ethiopia Public Sector Capacity Building Program and Kenya various Government ministries and
departments, including local authorities.
Perhaps the case of Sierra Leone stands out as the only other country in Sub-Saharan Africa apart from
Kenya, where the RRA methodology has been applied in local government in the recent past (World Bank,
2006). The ongoing World Bank-supported Institutional Reform and Capacity Building Project (IRCB)
support to local councils is an example of simultaneously tackling the dual agenda of short-term results
delivery in post-conflict situation and medium-term capacity agenda to nascent governance institutions and
to support the decentralization process, the councils were encouraged to adopt the RRA, which became an
important driver in building a culture of performance, accountability and results. The initial efforts have also

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unleashed implementation capacity within the newly-created local Councils that delivered measurable
improvements in public services over a short period.
The Councils implemented the RRIs prior to completing a participatory development planning process. The
initial wave of initiatives built the confidence of the Council members in their own ability to deliver;
established the credibility of the Councils with their constituencies; and forced accelerated implementation of
enabling activities such as opening a bank account and putting in place disbursement and accounting
mechanisms. In the process of achieving their goals, simple yet effective monitoring systems were also
developed. This helped publicize the stories of good governance, as well as recorded failures to create
competitive pressures among local governments (see Box 1, Box 2 and Table 1).
BOX 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF RAPID RESULTS APPROACH
Sources: The below summarized excerpts were obtained from Matta, N. et al, 2005, The Rapid Results Approach: A Briefing Note, July
10 and PRS&DS, Presentation on RRI, November 14 2006.
The Rapid-Results Approach (RRA) is a set of management tools, processes, and skills that help leaders in organizations use a
series of short-term projects to translate long-term goals into concrete actions, quick results and impact. It is a results-focused
learning process aimed at jump-starting major change efforts and enhancing implementation capacity. RRA tackles large-scale
change efforts through a series of small-scale, results-producing and momentum-building initiatives. It allows knitting rapid-result
initiatives together and combining them with other longer-term traditional activity-oriented investments to create a dynamically
evolving implementation strategy.
The engine of the Approach is the Rapid-Results Initiative (RRI) 100-day project designed to unleash the capacity and creativity
of teams in pursuit of a strategically critical goal that delivers a real result, and that ties directly to strategic long-term plans. The
premise of the Rapid-Results approach is to create a context for learning and for enhancing implementation capacity, through
helping clients work on sharply-defined initiatives that deliver value to beneficiaries. These initiatives are structured in 100-day
cycles from agreeing on goals to achieving results, with each goal directly connected to one or more of the overall objectives of the
development effort. Each RRI becomes a vehicle for achievement, learning, and the advancement of long-term goals. Teams start by
prioritizing the areas they want to impact, and develop capacity as they go in the context of achieving 100-day results.
How RRI Works
Starts by focusing on a few results
Challenges teams to achieve 100-day results goals
Creates temporary governance support structure
Reinforces basic management skills
Manages the scale-up beyond the first 100 days
RRI achieves systemic change through a series of small-scale, results producing and momentum building initiatives
Why does RRI work?
Unleashes existing creativity and capacity by helping the teams overcome natural inertia and resistance to change that makes
it difficult to obtain meaningful results. Unleashes and enhances implementation capacity
Accelerates learning and discovery and reduces hidden risks inherent in long-term strategies
Provides a structured methodology for building and practicing management disciplines that are required for successful
implementation
Creates an efficient governing structure and helps leaders adapt and refine implementation strategies through strengthened
accountability at all levels
Develops a comprehensive work Plan, that sets up the road map for the achievement of results
Breaks down long-term intent and goals into 100-day Results Commitments
Strengthens confidence to achieve results and builds support for change
Strengthens Stakeholder participation and collaboration
Stimulates innovation due to the urgency of the goal

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Conditions for selecting RRA

New government/administration facing political pressure to perform
Government showing political commitment to reform
Presence of reform champions within the government
Entrepreneurial spirit: willingness to take some risk
The leaders in each case are a diverse group with differing styles. One quality they all exhibit is a stubborn belief in the possibility,
or even the inevitability, of succeeding in tackling big challenges by entrusting the people closest to, and mostly affected by, the
issue to channel their existing knowledge and capacity to achieve results. These are individuals who step forward and take a risk in
spite of the odds. In doing so, they inspire others to take a leap of faith as well to contribute rather than staying on the sidelines
to own the problem and find the solution. The Approach emphasizes that implementation and learning by doing are integral parts
of the policy development process and a means to assess the capacity for, and the political will to, undertaking larger policy
reforms through the achievement of tangible results. Despite the tremendous investments and technical expertise provided in
developing countries, implementing effective reform remains a very difficult task and simply looking for better policies may not be
the answer.

Table 1: Phases of Rapid-Results Initiatives

Estimated Time
1-2 Weeks

Step
Orientation

1-2 Weeks

RRI
identification
Launch

1-2 Days
60 120 Days

Implementation
Support

6 12 Months

Sale-up

Activities
Introduce RRA to strategic LA leaders
Ensure high-level buy-in and commitment to implementation
Clarify challenge, outline possible RRIs & align stakeholders
Identify and mobilize RRI team
Finalize goal of RRI
Develop preliminary work plan
Implement work plan, and adjust as needed
Provide guidance and implementation support
Review progress and disseminate learning
Scale up successful RRIs
Adjust portfolio of activities and rapid-results initiatives in the
strategic plan

Source: Adapted by author from PSR&DS, RRI presentation for Nairobi City Council, November 14, 2006.

BOX 2: RRI TEMPORARY GOVERNING STRUCTURE AND ROLES IN A LOCAL AUTHORITY

Source: Adapted by author from PSR&DS, RRI PowerPoint presentation for Nairobi City Council, November 14, 2006.
Political Leader (Mayor)
Broadcast RRI achievements within government and stakeholders
Supports overall policy framework
Sponsor (Town Clerk/Clerk to Council)
Helps team overcome extraordinary problem
Mobilize Resources
Communicate and advocate results within government & stakeholders
Results Leader

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Holds TL accountable for results

Communicates overall challenges to the Sponsor
Mobilize resources
Monitor and evaluate progress
Communicate RRI achievements
Initiate Scale-up
Pull the plug ability to decide termination of RRI

Team Leader (TL)

Day to day role
Coordinates support for the RRI
Communicates challenges to the Results Leader
SL and TL accountable for results
Strategic Leader (SL)
Works with the team leader to recruit the RRI team
Scopes the initiative
Reviews and supports team progress
Leads thinking on expanding - passion
Ensures that lessons from the RRI advance the strategic plan
Source of inspiration
Not a daily management role
Team Members
Develop comprehensive goals & work plans
Complete action steps thoroughly and on time
Communicate obstacles, successes & challenges to TL other team

EMERGING LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE AND CHALLENGES FROM NAIROBI CITY COUNCIL

As elaborated in the foregoing discussion and study of the underpinning conceptual and theoretical
framework of RRI, this part focuses on the specific early success stories, quick wins, lessons of
experiences and challenges on the efficacy of implementation of RRI in Nairobi City Council.
To jump-start its service delivery to residents, the Nairobi City Council embarked on a series RRIs. In
December, 2005 the City Council under pressure to unlock the World Bank funded multi-million US dollar
Kenya Municipal Program embraced RRI to enable it prepare Terms of Reference for the within a record 22
days. As a corollary to this, in November 2006, the Council received assistance from Public Service Reform
and Development Secretariat, Cabinet Offices Results for Kenyans Program towards its efforts to promote
good governance, efficient and effective service delivery (Ogot, 2007:pp. 1-3).
The Council scaled up RRIs to great effect to keep 14 service delivery areas on track and deliver visible
results within 100 days of schedule. A one-day training workshop on Rapid Results Approach was held at
City Hall, where the RRI teams in varied thematic areas were launched. During the launch, the RRI teams
supported by RRI coaches selected and confirmed on the choice of focus area. These sessions gave the
RRI teams opportunity to clarify what they had wanted to achieve in their various focus areas identified.

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Most importantly, the teams through the guidance of their respective coaches developed their work plans
clearly highlighting the RRI goal, milestones, action steps, time frames for completion of milestones, and
person(s) responsible for accomplishing each milestone. Budgeting and development of team operational
plans were also part of the launch sessions. After the 100 RRI days, the Council was able to post a number
of achievements and rapid results (Nairobi City Council, 2007) on the basis upon which subsequent scaleups have been undertaken. Table 2 is a summarized excerpt report of the key results achieved during the
RRI reporting period.

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Table 2: RRIs for Nairobi City Council

DEPARTMENT
1. Social services

THEMATIC AREA
Improve customer satisfaction
through innovation and landscaping

RRI GOAL
To improve the state of 48 houses
in Pangani estate within 100 days

2.

Planning

Processing a minimum of 100

development applications within 30
days from the day of submission

To increase the number of

Building plans approved from 50
to 100 within 30 days in 100 days.

RESULTS
Improve customer satisfaction through external painting
and preliminary beatification of 48 housing units in
Pangani Estate within 100 days. Achievement: 85% ( 41
houses repainted and renovated)
Increase the number of approved building plans from 450
600.
Achievement: 96% ( 580 plans)

3.

Environment

Scale
up
improvement
of
cleanliness in the city outside CBD

Improvement of solid waste

collection in Westlands division
from 70% to 90% in 100 days.

Increase the level of Solid Waste Collection within

Westlands Division (Kilimani Ward) from 7tons/week to 21
tons/week. Achievement 85% (18 tons).

4.

Procurement

Disposal
of
unserviceable
equipment at CEs mechanical
workshop

To dispose off all identified obsolete motor vehicles so as

to raise Kshs. 5 million. Achievement: 97%( Kshs 4.86
million raised)

5.

Investigation and
Information analysis

Reduce the number of corruption

incidences in the City Council of
Nairobi

To dispose all obsolete and

unserviceable motor vehicles and
increase revenue by 5 million
from the baseline survey in 100
days.
To reduce corruption incidences
in city mortuary by increasing
revenue by 20% from the baseline
in 100 days.

6.

Housing &
Development

Revenue enhancement

To increase revenue collection by

25% in 100 days.

7.

City Treasurer

Revenue enhancement at car parks

8.

Town Clerk

Increase the number of trees along

Mombasa road

9.

City Inspectorate

Improve the management of matatu

stages and traffic flow

To increase revenue in car park

by 28% from 43million to 53
million in 100 days in 100 days
Increase the number of trees
planted along Mombasa road
from 2,000 to 3,000 in 100 days.
To increase the number of
properly manned & managed bus
terminus / stages from 30 to 60 in

Increase revenue collection from 16 million to 20 million

Achievement: The actual collection is 77.5% above shs.16
million baseline and 33.3% above the target of Kshs. 20
million
Increase parking revenue from Kshs. 44 million to Kshs.
55 million.
Achievement :51.5million
Tree planting and beautification was revised from 3000 to
5000.
Achievement: 75% ( 4500 trees planted)
To increase the number of well managed routes from 30 to
60 and renovate/repair the bus termini/stages.
Achievement: 78% (53 routes)

Local Governance & Development Journal Volume 2 Number 2, December 2008

To reduce the Number of Corruption Incidences at City

Mortuary by Increasing Revenue by 20% from the
Baseline.
Achievement: 157.2% total of Kshs.5,138,648.80

31

100 days.
10. Human Resource

Improvement of staff rationalization

11. Public Health

Increase the number of fully

immunized children under 1 year

12. City Engineer

Increase security lighting in

selected shopping centers in the
city

13. Education

Increase enrolment
schools in Nairobi

14. Legal Affairs

Prosecution of cases under the

Physical Planning Act.

in

primary

Thematic area: improvement of

staff
policy:
To
reduce
absenteeism
within
decentralization program by 10%
in 100 days.
Increase immunization of children
under 5 years from 75% to 80% in
100 days
To improve security lighting
levels from 10% to 80% in 5
shopping areas in Nairobi in 100
days.
To increase enrolment in primary
schools in Kamukunji division by
3,000 pupils from 17,000 to 20,
000 in 100 days. Should involve
other stakeholders to obtain
information on the enrolment
levels.
To
increase
successful
prosecution of cases under the
Physical Planning Act from the 61
number won in the months of
September,
October
and
November, 2006 to 100 in 100
days.

To reduce absenteeism in the Decentralization program by

30% (From 572 days to 400 days)
Achievement: 96% ( reduced to 410 days)
To increase the percentage of fully immunized children
from 75% to 85%.(of eligible population of 102,992)
Achievement: 103%
Increase the level of security lighting within 5 shopping
centres (Ruai, Buruburu, Pangani, Nairobi West &
Dagoretti corner) in Nairobi from 10% to 80%.
Achievement: 100% all 5 No. shopping centres well light.
Increase enrolment in Kamukunji Division schools by
3,000 pupils from 16,728 to 19,728 pupils.
Achievement : 58% of target equivalent 1727 new
admissions

To increase successful prosecution of cases under the

Physical Planning Act from the 61 number won in the
months of September, October and November, 2006 to
100.
Achievement: 91%
( 55 cases completed)

Sources: Nairobi City Council, 2007, End-Term Report: Achievements Registered by Departments of The City Council Of Nairobi Under The Rapid Result
Initiative Aspect of The Result Based Management, October 31 and Ogot, C. A., 2007, Rapid Results Initiative: The Experience of The City Council Of Nairobi,
May 15.

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The matrix (Table 2) clearly illustrates that RRIs, if implemented properly have a very high potential of
enhancing the Councils service delivery. On this premise, it is critical at this juncture to take stock of all
the factors while analyzing the efficacy of RRI.
Initial success stories and quick wins
On the one hand, the champions have asserted that RRI has by and large led to improved Council
service delivery in many aspects, bequeathing a number of lessons upon which to build on for future
scale-ups (Ogot, 2007 and Saulo and Ringa, 2007). First, RRI has by and large accelerated the
implementation of the Councils existing strategies, goals, annual work plans and performance contract
targets. Concerted efforts have been made to ensure that all goals and strategies for the RRI are
derived from the objectives outlined in the strategic plan and annual work plans.
Second, RRI has enhanced the working camaraderie between council staff, civic leaders and
stakeholders. The RRI team approach in solving problems contributed in producing tangible results
which was highly satisfactory as expressed by team members in a transparent and accountable
manner. One main lesson from the Nairobi experience is that feed back between RRI teams increased
the level of trust and confidence between the teams, civic leaders and stakeholders. Pushing the lines
of accountability further down, the whole team was responsible for the results, and each one of them
knew exactly what needs to be done.
Third, physical development became evident within very short time as evidenced by the newly built
infrastructures e.g. security lighting at Dagoretti, Ruai, Buruburu, renovation and repainting of Pangani
Estate. Garbage collection improved significantly. Other achievements included the replacement of
broken slabs, painting of arches, beautification programme (gardens, recreational parks), road marking,
restoration of water fountains, repairs of walkways and pavements, kerbing, naming of streets,
numbering buildings, and installing traffic signs. In doing so, the council was able to forge strategic
public-private partnerships with stakeholders such as Adopt-A-Light (street-lighting) and Nairobi Central
Business Distract (NCBDA) and other businesses that chipped in resources.
Fourth, some amount of progress was seen to be made in the area of the financial management. Set
criteria leading to disbursement and accessing of scarce council funds were strictly followed despite the
limited time of the RRI implementation. In terms of revenue collection, the council collected a record
Kshs. 7 million more in parking fees between October and December, 2006, compared to the same
period in the previous calendar year (Adero, 2007).
Fifth, RRI has helped the council to put in place a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system and the
experience also served as an eye-opener for the need for documenting information for future reflections
and learning. Breaking down the goals into initiatives with specific results helped the teams put together
such a system. This exercise moved the process from the abstract to the concrete - the inputs, outputs,
and desired outcomes became very clear and focused. Each one of the results was an indicator by itself
and each one of the teams that identified a result established a set of activities that would help them
reach that result. Consequently, both activities and results were being monitored through convening of
review meetings and striving to meet set deadlines. Storage and retrieving of documents and proper
filing of information was improved.
Sixth, the Nairobi City Council experience clearly brings the importance of committed and engaging
political and executive leadership mutual interdependence as a critical prerequisite for RRI
transformation. John Gakuo, Town Clerk (Sponsor) and His then Worship Mayor, Cllr. Dick Wathika
(Political Leader) were instrumental in injecting a sense of urgency for results providing continuing
leadership vigilance and focus (Mathenge, 2007). Their engaged leadership continually provided
visibility and afforded bragging rights to teams that delivered unusual results, not only in response to
one-off crisis or to leadership whims, but in a sustained manner. They created the enabling conditions
for a positively reinforcing cycle results achievement and leadership development. Ultimately, the

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experience of better results raised the overall level of expectations among recipients of council services,
which in turn reinforced the demand for better and faster results.
Problems, constraints and challenges
Conversely, a number of arguments have been advanced by RRI pessimists to demonstrate that the
implementation of RRI in Nairobi City Council has been plagued by a number of teething problems,
challenges and constraints. One, despite its potential for reactivating council service delivery, the RRI
methodology as implemented in Nairobi City Council has been a largely centralized reform initiative. As
it has been aptly argued, this is largely because external partners (the World Bank and the UNDP)
favour centralizing reform structures and initiatives because a centralized hierarchical system lowers
transaction costs external assistance and enlarges the comfort zone for external participants in terms of
monitoring the utilization of their funds for the intended purposes (Shah, 1998:p. 33 and Polidano,
2001:p.6). The lending-based incentives international organizations create for reforming governments
encourage such to adopt top-down, control-oriented reforms.
Two, as stated elsewhere, Kenya lacks a full-fledged policy and constitutional framework for
decentralization and most of the ongoing decentralization reforms have been limited to
intergovernmental delegation instead total decentralization. The downside of such an approach is that it
prohibits local demand-led reform innovations by LAs, limiting any chance of citizen-based, resultsoriented governance approaches such as RRI. In the nature of things, results-oriented reforms such as
RRI aim to replace top-down, monopolistic, unresponsive public organizations with flat performance
oriented, productive and responsive public organizations.
On the contrary, such reforms have been implemented in a centralizing way, limiting the ability of line
agencies to develop results-based competencies and reinforcing process-based organizational
incentives and insularity. Some experts have aptly referred this to as a loose collection of contradictory
and flawed ideas, derived primarily from the private sector, and traveling between countries (Desai and
Imrie, 1998: p.645). This description is apt in the case of Nairobi City Council, where the RRIs have
been introduced as add-ons to pre-existing rigid, process-oriented and bureaucratic organizational
structures and actually reducing reason or incentive to create personnel or process abilities related to
decision-making, prioritization and allocation.
Three, like most Kenyan LAs, Nairobi is typically shown to suffer from widespread problems of low
administrative capacity and poor performance, weak personnel and systems capacities, all entrenched
by insufficient skills bases, low compensation and poor human resource and organizational policies. In
view of these, the much-touted flat matrix RRI temporary governing structure has not guaranteed the
kind of leadership necessary for implementation and scale-up vis--vis the existing rigid traditional
vertical council service ethos. Additionally, there arose a confusion of roles with some councillors seeing
themselves as implementers rather than policy makers and fighting over the location of the some of the
RRIs.
In like vein, some senior council officers felt threatened with this arrangement and this bred discontent,
suspicion and low morale, ultimately resulting in a dysfunctional relationship between the traditional rigid
and bureaucratic council grading system and the temporary governing structure to support the RRI rules
(Miringuh and Mwakio, 2006). Put bluntly, meetings convened by the loose governance structures soon
degenerated to forums for recording events rather than taking decisions. Participants eventually lost
interest, skipping either skipping crucial meetings or sending ineffectual lower-levels officials in their
stead.
Four, and linked to the above point, is overwhelming evidence that recent reform measures, including
RRI have failed to stop immense hemorrhage of revenue at the City Hall. A recent damning forensic
report by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission states that City Hall continues to lose a huge portion of
parking fees, land rates or rent to corrupt officials exploiting weak financial management systems.
KACC says perpetrators of the rip-off at the Council had devised a complex system to block evidence of

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unremitted money estimated to be worth millions of shillings. Key to the racket is concealment of the
paper work involving such money, including bouncing cheques, tempering with the numbering of
parking fees receipts and the filing of fraudulent expenditure claims at the councils cash office (KACC,
2007:pp. 4- 6).
At the end of April, 2007, City Hall was unable to account for Kshs. 33.6 million in unsurrendered
imprest and Kshs. 9 million worth of obsolete stock in its stores. The pilferage occurred at a time when
the council has started an overly ambitious RRI campaign to boost its revenue base with a target of
Kshs. 10 million a day (Aron, 2007). The report further blames the rip-off on a complex web of system
manipulation involving city council employees, defaulters and a coterie of dodgy business magnates
and cowboy contractors. The revelations on loss of revenue came barely a week after the Council said
it was unable to pay millions of shillings in salaries and pensions arrears to sacked employees due to
lack of funds. The key message here is that weak and inappropriate bureaucratic controls and
corruption often undermine the RRI processes and practices.
Five, the experience of RRI implementation by Nairobi City Council has been hampered by poor
organizational evaluation and accountability systems. Effective evaluation of such an approach
underscores the institutional arrangements and incentives. Performance evaluation for all the Kenyan
LAs, often undertaken by the all-powerful parent Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance and
other cognate line ministries or Auditor-Generals office, tend to have limited influence and are often
open to criticisms of political interference (Osiche, 2005:pp.2-5).
Another censure of these evaluations relates to the irregularity and inconsistent quality. For instance,
Nairobi City Council has been dissolved on various occasions; ostensibly to pave way for audits and
inspections. In such situations, resultsoriented managers at City Hall have more often than not
received a conflicting message: Manage for results but you will be audited on your adherence to
process, not results (Andrews, 2001:p.10). In essence, the point being made here is that an
untreated public sector shortcoming as important as this acts as a negative to any reform initiatives
introduced. Under such conditions, RRIs will be prone to collapse if they fall short of incorporating
evaluations that introduce incentives conducive for public sector reform.
A further sticky issue is that these evaluations tend to one-dimensional, concentrating on fiscal probity
and vertical rule adherence e.g. through Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF) and its stringent
eligibility criteria (i.e. budget estimate for that financial year; a cash and bank balance; a statement of
debtors and creditors; abstracts of accounts for that financial year; a revenue enhancement plan; a plan
to achieve a 5 % reduction in spending on staff each successive year in the mid-term and a Local
Authority Service Delivery Action Plan etc). Whereas citizens are supposed to participate in this
process, they are not aware and little time and resources have been put aside towards sensitizing them
on their role in ensuring accountability at the local government level (Ojiambo, 2004:pp-9-10). This
institutionalizes the centralizing structures discussed earlier, and reinforces process-oriented incentives
at the expense of social responsiveness and efficiency. Hence, it is no wonder that whereas the RRI
has taken root at the City Council, citizen sensitization and consultation like in the case of LATF has
been limited to a few targeted groups with the effect of undermining activity and project ownership.
Six, in implementing RRI, the Public Service Reform and Development Secretariat, Cabinet Office
experimented with another short-lived New Public Management (NPM) tenet of contract appointments
from outside the public service. The RRI Coaches (the so-called war room team), comprising of a
cabal of leading Kenyan professional consultants from the private sector. In poaching them, the
government was obliged to pay them at astronomical market rates in monthly salary and emoluments.
The experts were attached to the various council departments to assist the RRI teams to develop, plan
and implement the proposed initiatives through coaching and mentoring.
A number of lessons can be discerned. The folly of selective contract appointments of coaches
inherently lies in its high potential for attrition leading to fragmentation of the public service. While the
rest of Council chief executives and other top cadres terms and conditions of service were governed by
the centralized Public Service Commission (PSC), the coaches were separately negotiated as part of

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the World Bank funding. This logically engendered resistance and sabotage from within the council due
to sky-high disparities in remuneration and teething problems of lack of a clear framework controlling,
co-ordination and monitoring the latters activities in terms of their performance. Consequently, RRIs
were either blocked outright or put in effect only in tokenism, half-hearted fashion.
The lesson for reformers here is that any haphazard transplant and implementation of genericprescriptive NPM-like reforms without a coherent corporate strategy is a misnomer in the public sector
context as it is likely to cause centrifugal tendencies (Adamolekun, 2002:pp.380 and Kiragu, 2006:p.
12). Linked to this is that fact that demanding results without rewarding and recognizing performance
can lead to cynicism, on-the-job resignation and reform fatigue. This line of thought was volubly
apparent in the authors interviews with a senior Council staff who tersely dismissed the whole RRI
endeavor as an alien reform idea emanating from the centre (sic) Cabinet Office, Office of the
President and the donors) ..An extra workload without monetary motivation and a distraction from
routine duties. This view was best exemplified by the difficulties encountered by the coaches and
team members to convene timely meetings with full quorums.
Seven, another challenge confronting RRI implementation at Nairobi Council was that of inadequate
funding. On the one hand, in the case of the Sierra Leone, the World Bank-financed the first wave of
RRIs where Local Council chairmen were asked to identify areas of focus before disbursement
procedures were established, bank accounts set up, even before they had officially taken office (World
Bank, 2006). Each Council was provided with a small grant (on average USD$30,000) and RRI coaches
to implement a high-visibility, high-impact project within 100 days. During the period of September 2004
and January 2005, all Councils launched Rapid Results Initiatives (RRIs) and most achieved their
results in water, sanitation, feeder roads, traffic, rice production and mitigating post- harvest loss etc.
In contrast, the Bank channeled its financing for the Nairobi City Council RRIs through the Ministry of
Planning and National Development and the Public Service Reform and Development Secretariat,
Cabinet Office respectively. Unlike the case of Sierra Leone, Kenya Government only took up payment
for the coaches consultancy services, leaving the Council to operate on centre-controlled and restricted
thrifty regular budget heavily controlled by the parent Ministry of Local Government and which had not
provided for additional funds for RRIs. This constraint was consistently highlighted as the main impeding
factor confronting all the RRIs teams.
Eight, given the murky nature of Kenyan politics, the few positive gains made by RRIs were reversed in
the run-up to the tumultuous December 2007 General Elections. A few weeks to the elections, hawkers
hitherto barred from trading in the hawker-prohibited Central Business District (CBD) since 2004
brazenly flooded the city center with all manner of merchandise hampering movement by pedestrians,
stifling established businesses and increasing the crime rate. The prevailing political mood was best
illustrated by the arrest of the flamboyant former Mayor Cllr. Joe Aketch who overtly protested to the
Councils inspectorate and police arrests of hawkers. TV footage and pictures of him engaging the
security enforcers in running battles and shouting .Stopping hawkers from trading in the city centre
would lead to loss of would-be votes for President Mwai Kibakis Party of National Unity (PNU).. were
splashed across the media electronic and print media. On his part, the John Gakuo (Town Clerk)
admitted that "The situation is out of control but the council cannot handle the menace single
handedly. The law enforcement agents that have always assisted us have suddenly fizzled out"
(Ombati, 2007).
Similarly, the City Inspectorates RRI efforts to improve the management of matatus (public transport
vehicles) stages and traffic flow were stymied by the sudden relaxation of guard by the traffic police who
failed to crack down on the overloaded trucks and pick-up vehicles ferrying slogan-chanting supporters
on the campaign trail. In the same volatile period, the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki revoked the
2004 Transport Licensing Board Regulations imposed by former Transport Minister, Mr. John Michuki,
requiring among other things that matatu crews to wear uniforms at a campaign rally, saying it was
costly (Wachira, 2007).

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CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

The preceding two parts have broadly discussed the fundamental conceptual and theoretical framework
of RRI and critically analyzed its efficacy for Nairobi City Council, bringing out the key success stories
and quick-wins, reflections, pitfalls and challenges. What is clear is that the RRI approach remains an
integral plank of the ongoing raft of NPM-type like reforms that can simultaneously produce both shortterm results, and lay a strong foundation for sustainable change in Kenyas public sector.
The preliminary outcomes in Nairobi City Council that are presented in this paper show that, despite the
plethora of pitfalls pitted against it, there is still room for RRI practices in reactivating local service
delivery. Barring the mixed fortunes, the Nairobi case is a microcosm with vital lessons and a tool that is
worthy of use by other LAs as a reference point in developing their own reforms prior to the intended
replication across the country. On the basis of the foregoing analyses, a number of conclusions can be
drawn. One, stand-alone and one-off reforms to jumpstart reforms do not generally produce sustainable
and visible results in better service delivery.
Two, unsystematic and ad hoc reforms such as RRI that are top-down and driven by the centre and
donor interests are likely to fail in producing tangible benefits and results. Perhaps the solution could be
to develop a strategy in which short-term quick fixes feed into a sustainable reform strategy, that is, are
contained within and contribute to a longer-term public sector-wide strategy of reform. This is not an
argument for a big bang approach. Tactically, the government might to start with small, manageable
reforms that can be accomplished rapidly, but the big picture over say 3 - 6 years is important to keep
reform moving in the right direction and to reassure the key actors.
Three, any meaningful public sector reforms must take cognizance of the peculiar specific context of the
respective targeted institutions, which in most cases are incongruous to RRI. Suffice it to recapitulate
here that under these circumstances, it is difficult to design, complex to implement and even more
difficult sustain public sector reforms that guarantee the right outcomes and impact on service delivery
in the long run.
The limited experience of Nairobi clearly suggests that there are institutional capacity and other
problems whose persistence are binding constraints to RRI implementation. These can only be resolved
if there is a re-think about putting in place an enabling governance, policy, legal and cultural
environment to avoid institutional bottlenecks. The evidence from this study lends credence to the
widely-held premise that RRI-related reforms can only take place in Kenyas LAs if the right frame
conditions are in place. More importantly, there needs to be enhanced incentives at both organizational
and individual levels, clear performance targets and accountabilities and effective monitoring and
evaluation systems.
Four, what is discernible from the foregoing analysis is that while the adoption of RRI practices in
Nairobi City Council has posted a modicum of positive results and quick wins, there are both potential
for real capacity limitations to applying some elements in such a weak institution. A related point to be
emphasized is that blind and non-strategic adoption of RRI practices is a sure recipe for disaster for
Kenyas local service delivery. Systematic assessment of an organizations governance implementation
environment and implementation capacity should precede the introduction of any new management
practices, including those associated with RRI. It is better to start with simple business re-engineering
processes (e.g. streamlining licence issuance, strategic planning, staff appraisals etc) before plunging
into full-scale RRI.
Finally, strategic and tactical success factors i.e. firm support (particularly by both political leaders and
technocratic managers); keeping the scope of change narrow; establishing internal council-level
accountability mechanisms; limiting the role of aid donors (World Bank and UNDP) through deprojectization so as to introduce greater flexibility in the design and implementation of reforms and allow

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for more experimentation by the host government. These are critical to the successful re-design and
implementation of next phase of RRI replication to other LAs if success chances are to be maximized.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Osiche is a Senior Local Governance Specialist, RTI/USAID Iraq Strengthening Local and
Provincial Governance Program, Baghdad. Previously, he was UNDP Programme Officer (Local
Government), Public Service Reforms and Development Secretariat (PSR&DS), Cabinet Office, Kenya
and Programme Officer, Association of Local Government of Kenya (ALGAK). He holds a Master of
Public Management degree from Potsdam University, Germany. Disclaimer: The paper was researched
and partly written while I was at the PSR&DS and benefited from the critical advice from a cross-section
of Nairobi City Council staff, councillors and stakeholders. However, it represents the authors personal
views and should not be ascribed to any other person, or to nay other institution.
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