A mixture of hope and anxiety has gripped the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) with the onset of the long-delayed restructuring programme meant to increase efficiency and turn the 74-year old institution into a self-reliant outfit. 

While there is an upbeat mood among the majority of staff that the Euros 8 million ($9.5 million - Ksh 736 million) five-year restructuring programme – funded by the European Union – is finally on course, there is apprehension over its impact and worries that it might not be completed before 2006, when the funding ends.

Of more concern, however, is the nature and extent of the pending staff retrenchment. Negotiations are still going on among stakeholders on how best to handle recommendations to reduce the workforce by 37 per cent or 382 people after commissioned studies revealed that the NMK structure is too bottom heavy, with insufficient capacity in key management, technical and research departments.

The reason is that, for sometime now, NMK has been unable to sustain competitive levels of remuneration to attract and retain the right number and calibre of professionals. "It is true that the restructuring programme has created anxiety among the staff, but we want to assure those concerned that it is a well thought-out programme with a human face," observed NMK director-general, Dr Idle Farah. 

The programme, described by experts as the biggest museum development project in Africa, was signed between the Kenya government and the EU in Brussels in 2001, but there was little movement till the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government took power.

But even after the change of guard in December 2002, the programme did not take off as the new government dilly-dallied over the appointment of the executive director and the new board. 

Besides dwindling donor-support, the restructuring is necessitated by the realisation that the museum has over the years experienced rapid growth to become a complex organisation with diverse resources and activities, beyond the capacity of the current management structure and calibre of staff. 

NMK, in its nearly 100 years of existence, has developed from traditional museum activities to become a centre for research, collection management and dissemination of information as well as being Kenya's centre for biodiversity.

With its headquarters in Nairobi, and 14 regional museums and several sites under it, NMK is responsible for the care and collection of cultural, ecological and fossil exhibits, sites and monuments that are unique to sub-Saharan Africa, thereby emerging as one of the most important centres of conservation , education and research in its field in Africa. 

It holds over 4.5 million collection items and has for over 60 years acted as a forum for international scientific collaboration, contributing immensely to scientific advancement through research. But like other public institutions, funding has been a major constraint, as the organisation competes with other government and donor priorities. The Museums thus face the challenge of sustainability while remaining relevant to the community, at a time when the government is insisting that only those entities that are efficient and self-sustaining will remain. 

In addition, NMK must build the capacity to hire and retain qualified staff if it is to fulfil its mandate in an efficient and effective manner. "Change is necessary if we are to be counted among the universal museums considered to be the guardians of the heritage of the world. Furthermore, Kenya is changing rapidly and most people dealing with public institutions would like to get their money's worth," said the director of regional museums, sites and monuments, Dr Mzalendo Kibunjia.

The EU assistance was meant to renovate the buildings and expand the museum's exhibition capacity, finance the redrafting of the laws governing the museum to give it autonomy and help towards staff rationalisation that would enable the museum to compete at the global level. 

But it is now a race against time as there are only two years remaining for the expiry of the funding agreement. Claus Darmstadt, the project officer at the EU Delegation in Kenya, expressed concern that so much time was wasted at the initial stages, leading to a situation where a huge amount of work has to be squeezed into the remaining period.

He is, however, positive that, "After a rather slow start during the previous government, things have changed dramatically and the process has experienced huge progress." 

The programme, which is being implemented in phases, has four major components. The legal reform component will harmonise the two statutes governing NMK and grant the institution more operational autonomy, particularly in financial matters. 

The organisational restructuring includes staff rightsizing, redefining the core functions of the Museums and devolving the decision-making process. The public programmes reform involves training, the enhancement of the institution's corporate image, and enhanced presentation of the museum collection. Finally, the infrastructure development involves alteration and refurbishment of the Nairobi museum, including a new exhibition complex with the aim of increasing visitor numbers. 

Already, management consultants Deloitte &Touche, who were contracted to design and plan the staff rationalisation project, has come up with a new organisational structure and a recommendation that the museum will work more efficiently with 649 qualified staff, down from the current 1,031. The proposed organisational structure includes the board, director general's office, five directorates and three decentralised regional offices – Central, West and Coast regions – all manned by assistant directors. 

While the new structure has been approved by the board and forwarded to the government for ratification, on the recommended staff reduction, which would reduce the payroll cost from the current Ksh163 million ($2 million) to Ksh140 million ($1.7 million) annually, the NMK management is negotiating with the EU and the government to retain at least 790 staff members and stagger the retrenchment exercise over three to four years to minimise its impact and give time for the learning process.

Dr Farah explained that the numbers were arrived at without considering that outposts such as Lamu, Turkana and Maralal need more permanent staff because they were inherently hardship areas. "While it is necessary to reduce the numbers in certain departments that are overstaffed, we would like to have a restructuring with a human face, because we believe that that final objective can be achieved without necessarily following the prescribed routine." 

Dr Farah revealed that internal assessments showed that the museum had lost a number of scientists in the recent past. "We are short of senior cadre and middle management staff and if we are not careful, we might end up losing our best workers, whom we're supposed to retain in the first place."

Deloitte &Touche recommended that the criteria for retrenchment be based on age, skill and performance, health, those who have been declared redundant by virtue of their positions being abolished in the new structure and those who seek voluntary retirement. 

According to Prof Peter Ngau, a board member and chairman of the project steering committee, the retrenchment must be handled with care, considering that the new museum management was given an expanded mandate to re-invent the museum. Similarly worrying is the delay in the enactment of the the National Museums and Heritage Bill, published last year to give the restructuring a sound legal base, but which has been pending in parliament. 

Stakeholders are hoping that the government, despite pressing issues, will give priority to the bill, which is part of the legal reforms demanded by the EU. 

Still, chances are that the financial autonomy that was expected as a consequence of the new law, may not be realised, since the government has ruled that there will be no more exemptions from the State Corporations Act. 

Undersecretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs John Mwaniki, told The EastAfrican that the government was discussing the issue with the EU, "since there is no way a state corporation can be independent indefinitely." 

As part of the restructuring programme, the EU had been pushing for the museum to be allowed financial independence so that the income it generates is managed by the institution, and scientists who raise research grants with provision for salaries are allowed to operate without government interference. The EU is also pushing for the budgetary allocation for the museum not to be slashed even after the retrenchment to enable the institution pay better salaries for the remaining staff.

"Any given government must be assured that the museum will not come back after a few years to be rescued by the government from collapsing," he observed. 
 

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