Determinants of Implementing E-Government in Kenya: Case of Nakuru Town Huduma Centre

Abstract

Provision of services to the members of the public has always been viewed to lack efficiency and transparency thereby being labeled as riddled with corruption in general worldwide. Governments have constantly made attempts at quality standards, particularly for customer (citizen) satisfaction. In Kenya, the public service sector has been making effort to offer efficient and effective services, by deploying programs like the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of the 1980s, which led to staff rationalization and encouraged civil servants to voluntarily retire. In the 1990s the government adopted strategic management by hiring managers from the private sector who christened the “dream team” whose recommendation included retrenching civil servants to reduce the wage bill. Later in the year the 2000s and beyond the government embraced Information Technology in its back-office processes, geared towards improving efficiency in government processes. To improve customer experience, the Kenyan government launched the Huduma Kenya in 2013, whose front office services are offered through the Huduma Center(s), a one-stop shop for amalgamated services. E-government is an effective strategy for promoting integrated approaches to policies and services offered by encouraging accountable and transparent institutions. However, the implementation of Huduma centers across Kenya has not been without hurdles, especially in the advent of the county government system. This study endeavors to look at factors determining the pace and direction of e-governance implementation in Kenya through the Huduma Kenya programme. This study focused on Nakuru Town, Huduma Centre. The study was carried out amongst management, members of staff (front desk officers), and members of the public seeking services at Huduma centre in Nakuru town. This guided by among other objectives: to establish how organizational functions, client processing, ICT infrastructure, and organizational culture determine the implementation of e-government. The study used mixed research method designs where both qualitative and quantitative approaches were deployed. Qualitative data was collected by the use of a descriptive survey design and a simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents. Quantitative data will be collected by the means of questionnaires and qualitative data by use of scheduled interviews. Descriptive statistics techniques such as Pearson correlations and regression analysis will be used for (frequencies, means, and percentages) and thematic analysis for data collected from interviews giving descriptive statistics. Tables and charts presentations were used to demonstrate the outcome. The information obtained from this study may be used by stakeholders such as the government agencies and key staff in strategic positions concerned with the implementation of e-governance as a guide to policy review and/or development.