Kenya launches e-centre to cut bureaucracy

Kenya’s  President Uhuru Kenyatta has launched a “one-stop shop” to access and pay for government services electronically. The centres are aimed at fighting corruption and bureaucracy.

Friday, November 08, 2013

Kenya’s  President Uhuru Kenyatta has launched a "one-stop shop” to access and pay for government services electronically. The centres are aimed at fighting corruption and bureaucracy.President Kenyatta (below) said public inefficiency had bred corruption, wasted time and "cost billions”.A pilot centre has been set up in the capital, Nairobi, where customers can access a range of self-service counters linked to government databases.Known as Huduma centres, they will be rolled out across the country.Huduma, which means "service” in Swahili, is part of a government plan to fully digitise government services.Kenya is one of Africa’s most technologically advanced countries, with a widely used mobile phone money transfer service and a cluster of tech start-ups.But President Kenyatta said this had yet to reach government services:"For a long time Kenyans have been subjected to moving from place to place in search of services from the government,” he said at the launch of the pilot centre.