Transformative Leadership and Its Development in Public Service Reform in Kenya

Leadership on the African continent has been a focus of scholars as African nations have incredible human and natural resources but seem to be bereft of the leaders necessary to capitalize on its opportunities. Researchers acknowledge that the barrier to progress in the developing world is not the deficiency of money or natural resources, but suggested it to be the lack of leadership. Researchers have demonstrated reasons for this deficiency including the effects of the colonial system upon people and civil service systems, but have yet been able to establish a promising path to economic and social progress. Leaders in Kenya provided promising solutions in the national strategic plan, Kenya Vision 2030, to move it to a first world economy within 25 years. One of the foundations of the plan was public service reform with a flagship project to establish the Kenya School of Government to develop transformative leadership training and fill the leadership gap. The purpose of this study was to investigate, understand, and describe the process and progress of this strategic goal of Kenya\u27s public service reform. The transformational leadership theory approach of Burns (1978) was used as the locus point for the study. Using a qualitative case study method, interview data were gathered from persons in Kenya who were integrally involved in the design and development of this strategic goal. The result of the analysis was that development of training for transformative leadership was an intentional goal which was seen as critical for national success. I described how the strategy was begun and implemented. Kenya and other developing countries may benefit from the results of this study as it provides a possible roadmap of leadership training for national progress