How Huduma is transforming public service

The establishment of Huduma Kenya centres has proved to be a creative master-stroke by the Jubilee Government under President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.

It is a public service innovation that has completely changed the lives of Kenyans for the better.

In its revolutionary concept, the main aim of Huduma Kenya (which translates as Service for Kenya) is to effectively and efficiently deliver a wide variety of Government services to the public at a single point. When world leaders come for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), they will find a transformed nation with more efficient public services than before.

Through its innovative functions, Huduma Kenya is currently transforming the provision of Government services in ways that put Kenya ahead of some developed and other developing nations. Each of the Huduma Centres provides 20 to 30 different services from various Government institutions and agencies.

Only recently, Huduma Kenya, a department of the Devolution and Planning Ministry, was awarded the United Nations Public Service Award, a global prize for excellence in public service delivery.

Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru flew to Medellin, Columbia, in South America in late June, where she was presented with this glittering United Nations prize by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Lenni Montiel.

Huduma Kenya had edged out 528 other entrants from around the globe, including many from the more advanced nations of the world that had presented submissions under the same category. Out of the total number of contestants, there were 59 entries from Africa alone.

UNPSA is one of the most coveted awards and recognises unalloyed excellence in public service delivery. The award came barely a month after the Huduma Kenya programme won the African Gold Award on Innovative Management from the Association of African Public Administration and Management.

The Huduma programme had also won two other awards – both Kenyan – in 2014, for Best Customer Service, presented by the Institute of Customer Service Kenya and Best Use of ICT in the Public Sector, by the ICT Association of Kenya.

"The Huduma Kenya Programme implemented by the Ministry of Devolution and Planning was recognised for its outstanding achievements in serving the public interest," said Waiguru, adding that the "Huduma Kenya Centres and their efficient services are a symbol of transformational leadership".

Huduma Kenya Service Centres currently functional or being rolled out throughout the country serve more than 12,000 people per day and more than 1,500,000 people have been served to date. At the end of the Financial Year 2014/2015, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning had completed the establishment over 47 Huduma Service Centres across the country.

Since its establishment in 2013, Huduma Kenya has rolled out a network of Government offices (Huduma Centres) in Kenya, in which Kenyans can transact business ranging from the business registration process to driving licence renewals, duplicate identity cards and seasonal parking tickets.

As a one-stop-shop, each Huduma Kenya Service Centre allows any person requiring a certain public service to access it quickly in an efficient and courteous environment. The first Huduma Centre, located on the ground floor of Teleposta Towers along Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi, was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013.

Within Kenya's capital city, there are now several Huduma Kenya Centres, with one located just across the road from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) offices along Haile Selassie Avenue and the other one at Makadara in the Eastlands area.

Other major cities and towns such as Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Embu, Meru, Kiambu, Machakos, among others, now have Huduma Service Centres of their own.

Reports indicate in the past few months, Huduma Kenya has been working to establish 12 new service centres in Kwale, Wajir, Siaya, Narok, Meru, Kitui, Kiambu, Isiolo, Bungoma, Turkana and two more in Nairobi.

The expansion of the one-stop centres that offer services like NHIF registration and claims, assessment and payment of Stamp Duty and issuance of police abstract forms and student loan application and repayment, is expected to create more than 600 new jobs where the centres are located.

Only a few months ago, the Treasury sought parliamentary approval to withdraw Sh1.5 billion in a mini-budget in order to extend the reach of the public services provided by Huduma Kenya to other parts of the country. The goal is for the Huduma Kenya services to reach every Kenyan by 2017.

The transformation in public service delivery by Huduma Kenya has been truly phenomenal. It is now providing many citizens in the country with various essential services and information at the one-stop-shop centres through integrated technology platforms.

From Government revenue collection to provision of a convenient electronic payment gateway, this facilitates ease of payment for Government services in all Huduma Centres through the Posta Pay platform. Over KSh5.3 billion has been collected from the Huduma Services that attract a fee.

The Huduma Kenya programme has contributed immensely to the improvement of the Doing Business Index through the devolution of services like search and reservation of business names and Certificate of Good Conduct.