Government praised for increased use of technology

What you need to know:

  • Huduma received an award for being the best in government in use of ICT to improve service delivery.

The government has been praised for increased use of technology in improving service delivery and enhancing accountability in public spending.

Those recognised at the awards include the Huduma Center initiative launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta last year. Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru won the ICT leadership award while her ministry was recognised for best use of ICT.

These two were from the ICT Association of Kenya.

IMPROVED SERVICE DELIVERY

Huduma received an award for being the best in government in use of ICT to improve service delivery. It is part of efforts to leverage on ICT to sweep out inefficiencies in public service and increase accountability.

The initiative gives Kenyans access to a number of public services such as renewal of driving licences, registration of businesses, obtaining police abstracts, reporting corruption, student loan application forms, NHIF and NSSF registration.

The objective of the Huduma Center initiative is to bring government services under one roof. Currently there are 13 such centers spread across Mombasa, Nairobi, Machakos, Nyeri, Embu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kakamega, Kisumu, Kisii and Kajiado.

Also recognised during this year’s CIO100 Awards is the National Treasury. The annual competition seeks to celebrate firms that demonstrate exceptional use of ICT to improve their productivity.

The award was in recognition of the Integrated Financial Management Information System for improving transparency in public spending.