State to disband team on postal services

By Macharia Kamau

The Government has admitted failure in setting up a national address system that was expected to assign physical address to every household to facilitate identification of individuals and delivery of services.

An inter-ministerial committee set up in April 2010 failed to deliver on its mandate.

The ministry of Information and communication said it would disband the committee and formed another one to be tasked with giving tangible results in six months.

"I admit failure and take full responsibility for the outcome of the taskforce... the committee sat for two years running and has not given us anything," said Bitange Ndemo, Information and Communication Permanent Secretary.

"We will constitute a new one immediately and it will be expected to give feedback to the industry in six months."

Ndemo, who spoke Wednesday at a Postal and Courier Conference in Nairobi, added that new team would compose players in the postal and courier industry.

The national addressing system was supposed to facilitate identification of citizens, improve on revenue collection, and help local authorities in improve in management of urban areas through provision of security and utility services.

The system will be crucial in delivery of postal and courier items.

The current physical address system in the country has limited businesses based on a home delivery business model from thriving.

Current businesses that deliver goods door to door cannot operate in residential areas due to lack of addresses.

"The postal and courier industry in Kenya is worth Sh14 billion. This is a paltry amount considering the necessity of courier services in any economy.

The address system can have a significant impact on the growth of this communication sub-sector," Ndemo said.

Discussion at the one-day conference centred on security. Players were urged to step up security to avoid contraband parcels.

Courier firms have reported drugs, ammunitions and even human body parts.