Kenya shows SA the way to cut queues and corruption

One of the biggest frustrations experienced by adult South Africans occurs in government offices tasked with issuing documents to citizens. Whether identity cards, drivers’ licences or passports, the mindnumbing queues and a disgraceful lack of service ethic combine to undermine both the public’s productivity and its faith in government delivery.

But it does not have to be this way. Technology holds a tried-and-tested solution.

Five years ago, Kenyan citizens were in the same leaking boat. However, the government had made an election promise to transform the public service. It launched a programme called Huduma Kenya, designed to create one-stop shops for all document requirements, an online platform for applications and a digital back office that would process documents speedily and efficiently.

“It was meant to address inefficiencies in the front offices of government, where

Kenya citizens used to travel long distances in order to access services, wait long hours, and were subjected to corruption and extortion as they applied for services,” said Huduma CEO Dennis Mutuku.

“They were frustrated by public servants who had no sense of quality, efficiency or spirit in customer service. Kickbacks were a major issue.”

Sound familiar?

Five years later, it is as if the people of Kenya suddenly find themselves in a different country. The project has provided documents to 21-million people and sees 44,000 citizens passing through the

Huduma centres daily. Waiting time has been cut dramatically, and graft has been eliminated almost entirely.

“We reviewed best practice in other countries, like Canada’s and Brazil’s one-stop programmes,” said Mutuku. “We use a cloudbased customer relations management system, and customers are able to track the status of an application on mobile phones, via e-mail, and through a contact centre. ID documents are usually processed in two days. It has transformed the lives of Kenyans.”

Mutuku was speaking at this week’s VMworld cloud conference in Barcelona, where he and Huduma chief information officer Martin Mirero presented their project as a case study in using the cloud for government service delivery. Conference hosts VMware presented them with the inaugural Force for Good award, which recognises IT projects that enhance service delivery. But it was not only a technological achievement, said Mirero.

“There was pressure to scale fast, there was a challenge of limited resources and limited number of staff. But the most significant challenge was transforming the mindsets of individuals. People had been operating in a particular way, now you want them to change. It took time and indoctrination, literally, to get civil servants thinking customer service delivery.”

The project team chose the word “huduma”, Swahili for service, to emphasise the people-oriented nature of the platform.

“We didn’t have any precedent for successful implementation at that scale. The system crashed weekly at the start. It took six months to stabilise,” said Mirero.

The success of Huduma means there is now indeed a precedent — especially for SA.

Online service for passports and other documents gets citizens out of line

Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter @art2gee and on YouTube.