Garissa Huduma Centre huge relief to county residents

Residents of Garissa County have praised the region’s Huduma Centre, saying it has greatly enhanced access to government services in an area they say had been ignored by successive governments since independence.

The centre opened on March 31, 2016 and has so far served 55,000 people, with an average clientele of 500 people daily.

Some of the most sought services that residents can now get in less than a week are registration of births and deaths, national ID cards, NHIF, KRA, pensions and postal services, and HELB and police clearance certificates.

But since independence, Kenyan-Somalis and Somalia-Somalis have had an identity problem, with some even claiming to be “Somali sijui” (unknown Somali) and hence feeling marginalised.

FEELING KENYAN

Now residents say they can feel Kenyan enough because the presence of the Huduma Centre in the area has made it easier for them to be registered as Kenyans.

Before the centre opened, some of them did not bother to register because of the difficulties associated with obtaining the right documents.

A birth certificate is the first step in identifying onself as a Kenyan and residents have welcomed the services offered by the centre. It also helps with registration of examinations.

The Dadaab refugee camp did not help matters either, as there were observed cases of refugees trying to register their children as Kenyans.

David Boyo Kipresero, the acting Huduma Centre manager in Garissa, says that while many residents have learnt about the services, there are still a few, especially in far-flung parts of the county, who are yet to use the centre.

However, he is quick to add that sensitisation is going on.

CUSTOMERS HAPPY

“The inception of Huduma services has actually made work easy and you realise that when we have customers here they are always very happy.

“When they get out of the centre they say at least they are getting services with a lot of ease as opposed to those days…[when] they were going through very difficult moments getting services like [replacing] IDs,” he said.

But he also added that duplication of duties between the old birth registration bureau and the Huduma centre still poses a major challenge in promptly processing birth certificate requests.

“The services are the same because the ultimate goal is for a person to get a certificate of birth but the division of work is still not yet done properly so that these processes are taking place almost concurrently,” he said.

RELIEF

The residents also paint a picture of relief and ease of access to services.

Abdi Rashid, who had gone to pick up a birth certificate for his second-born child, expressed happiness at how quickly he was able to get it unlike that of his first-born.

“This is for my second-born and it has just taken one week. The previous one took three weeks,” he said.

He also said he was happy that some services can be offered within a single day.

Guhesha Mohamed, the county Maendeleo ya Wanawake chairwoman, noted that women, especially those who were busy with other things in their lives, used to give up halfway through the process and could hence face problems when registering their children for examinations.

“Now, that is a thing of the past, because people have gained confidence that they can be served in two or three days," she said.

Huduma Centres, one-stop shops for about 25 services, have helped put Kenya on the global map in service provision, winning the country 12 national accolades and regional and international awards, including the much-sought United Nations Public Service Award.