Government to open 22 additional Huduma Centres across the country

The Ministry of Devolution and Planning will roll out another 22 Huduma Centres across the country in the next two months.

According the just-released Status report, 12 of the proposed centres would be established immediately, as part of a Government plan to fully digitise government services.

The Huduma Kenya concept initiated by Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, seeks to use technology to allow people to access a range of self-service counters linked to Government databases.

Already, Kenya is regarded as one of Africa’s most technologically advanced countries, with a widely used mobile phone money transfer service and a cluster of tech start-ups. Kenya’s success has given the country a global reputation as an outlier in the mobile money sector and other software innovations.

President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the first Huduma Centre at GPO Nairobi in 2013 and described the old bureaucratic system as inefficiency, bred corruption, wasted time and cost billions of shillings. The Head of State raised concern over endless queues in public offices, during which countless hours were wasted.

In the President’s words: “This inefficiency bred corruption, initiating a cycle of vice which has tormented many and cost the country billions.” The same is still being experienced where Huduma centres have not been established. Huduma means “service.”

If one lost a National Identity Card under the old system, one would have to obtain a duly filled abstract from a police station, which in most cases was out of stock, get certifications at the offices of chiefs and District officers, undergo a fresh finger printing process, forms filling and photos taken followed by a long wait.

Under the new system, all one requires is to report the loss and apply for a replacement of the ID card at the Huduma Centre. The Huduma system is connected directly to a Government database, eliminating the need for finger-printing and photos as the records could be automatically accessed.

Services offered

Some of the services offered at Huduma centres include renewal of drivers’ licences, duplicate national identity cards, National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) registration and claims, HELB – Student Loan Application and Repayments, Registration of Welfare Groups, issuance of police abstracts, single business permit and stamp duty assessment and ayments among others.

It is expected that by the beginning of May this year, Huduma Kenya service centres would have been established in all the 47 counties in the country in order to provide high quality, easy to reach and effective Government services to all parts of this nation.

The concept of Integrated Service Delivery (ISD), a one-stop shop, is something that has not been conceived or utilised before, even in some of the most developed nations of the world. It is only now that some of the more socio-economically advanced countries are also at various stages of implementing similar concepts and structures.

ISD is now a globally accepted standard for innovative public service delivery and has been adopted by a number of developed and developing countries such as Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Australia, Brazil and India.

Business
Premium Burdened Kenyans walk into Easter weekend broke
Business
Premium Looming crisis as top lenders stare at Sh500b in bad loans
Business
Premium Water PS Korir put on the spot over Sh14m dam land
Business
Premium Ruto's food security hopes facing storm amid fake fertiliser scam