NAIROBI, Kenya, June 30 – Kenya’s vision to fully digitize government service delivery is rapidly accelerating, with more than 5,000 services now available online.
President William Ruto has already launched e-citizenship following a presidential directive on Jamhuri Day last year in which heads of state pledged to ease access to government services and eradicate corruption by eliminating physical interactions and brokers. A service registered on the portal has started.
The launch coincided with the rollout of GavaMkononi, a phone-based app developed to facilitate access to these services.
The Department of Interior, Security and National Administration is among the agencies that have moved its operations to online platforms, with four agencies currently planning to provide services digitally.
One of the new entrants is the National Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse Authority (NACADA), which plans to start permitting the import and export of alcoholic beverages online.
As part of the government's efforts to improve access to counseling and
To provide support services to the grassroots, the authorities will digitally certify rehabilitation centers, and people suffering from addiction are also expected to request virtual and in-person training through the same platform.
The Police Occurrence Register (OB) is also being digitized to facilitate more efficient and real-time reporting of crime and security incidents in the country.
Digital OB has been conceptualized to eliminate tampering and disappearance of case records since the details of complaints, statements and criminal acts are made in the case record.
Police stations will no longer be editable.
Additionally, progressive progress has been made towards strengthening the police clearance process with a number of capacity adjustment measures aimed at streamlining and speeding up the issuance of certificates by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Increased digitization will also strengthen police complaint systems and civilian vetting of law enforcement officers. Any member of the public can file a complaint against police with the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), which is expected to publish online the progress of its investigations into police deaths and injuries. Additionally, authorities aim to increase transparency in the deployment of military personnel.
The President also announced Gava Express, a service delivery approach modeled after Huduma Centers. However, unlike Huduma centers, which are primarily based at district headquarters, Gava Express partners with the private sector to deliver services at the grassroots, with the goal of establishing more than 300,000 centres.
Retailers all over the country.
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