The implementation of performance appraisal systems (PAS) has not been very successful in most public Universities. Despite the implementation of PAS since 2005 in public universities, their performance is still not comparable with the private sector to enable it to meet the ever-changing, competitive global world as well as meet the demands of a well-informed citizen. For example, employees of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and Kenyatta University (KU) have complained of poor PAS. Most employees have no full understanding of the PAS. The general goal of this study was to determine the effect of performance contracting’s strategic elements on the implementation of performance appraisal systems in public Universities within the Mount Kenya Region. The study was guided by the following objectives: to determine how organizational structure influences the implementation of performance appraisal systems in the public Universities in the Mount Kenya Region, to determine how monitoring and evaluation influence the implementation of performance appraisals in public Universities in Mount Kenya Region, to determine how employee attitudes influence the implementation of performance appraisals in public Universities in Mount Kenya Region and to examine the extent to which training influences the implementation of performance appraisal in public Universities in Mount Kenya Region. The study was informed by agency theory, the expectancy theory, the goal-setting theory, and the theory of planned behavior. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population of this study was the staff, human resource officers, administrators, and finance officers in the seven (7) chartered public universities as they are considered the ones directly involved in the implementation of performance appraisal systems. The target population for this study consisted of 2423 respondents from which a sample size was drawn. The sample size was 136 respondents from the 7 chartered public universities in Mount Kenya Region. Stratified random sampling was used in this study. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument for this study. Quantitative data was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics using SPSS (Version 20) and figures and tables were used to present the results. The study found that organizational structure, monitoring and evaluation, employee attitude, and training had a positive and significant effect on the implementation of performance appraisals in public Universities in the Mount Kenya Region. The study also concluded that monitoring and evaluation of projects helped various project stakeholders including the clients and project financiers which helped to improve the implementation of performance appraisal systems. In addition, the use of a monitoring and evaluation framework put in place contributes directly to the quality of PAS. Universities must increase the awareness of their employees about their goals, targets, and strategies. This will make it easier and smoother the introduction of PAS and afterward, the system itself will help to increase this awareness.