The public is required to be efficient, firm, fair and responsive to the people it serves. A key professional challenge for public managers is to deal with people both within the service as well as those that the public sector serves - the public. This challenge increasing calls for emotional intelligence (EI) on the part of public managers to ensure responsive service delivery in highly personal and demanding exchange situations where people can have very close and intense relationships. Thus, this study seeks to understand the relationship between EI and performance among middle level public managers. The results of this study would provide useful insight into the characteristics of EI that affect job performance and assist in developing better programs for public managers. The study involved a survey of 109 middle managers at Ministry of Works. The finding demonstrated the influence of EI on performance as well as its predictive power. The result also showed that age and high contact services moderate the influence of EI on performance. These findings reinforce studies by previous researchers on EI and its effect of performance.
