NAIROBI, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) – The Kenya government on Friday launched a strategy to automate its public sector records as part of reforms to improve service delivery to its citizens. Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno said in Nairobi the five- year strategy provides a roadmap to move from manual to electronic records to increase accountability and good governance.
“An automated public records system assists public officers perform their duties effectively when formulating polices by making appropriate decisions and achieving greater efficiency,” Mr Otieno said during the launch of the strategy in Nairobi. He said that the electronic system when fully implemented will assist the government to respond to the increasing amount of information available and the ever-growing number of records created by the public sector agencies. “It will assist public sector activities to be documented and maintained with officials getting the right information at the right time and at the least cost possible,” he said.
Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura said that the paperless records system will assist the country professionalize its records management system. “The paper based registry system which we have used since independence has become unsustainable for Kenya’s public sector,” Mr Muthaura said. He added the new system is designed to ensure that all mail and files are tracked up to the relevant officers hence removing opportunities for corruption. Additionally, he said, it will enable the sharing of information between ministries and government agencies as part of plans to realise Kenya economic blue print Vision 2030.
Ministry of Public Service Permanent Secretary (PS) Titus Ndambuki said record keeping in the public sector has been influenced by public scrutiny through legal and administrative reforms.
“This increased scrutiny means that records management needs to be an important part of every public service employee to ensure records created are kept safely to remain unaltered, reliable, accurate and useable overtime for as long as they are needed,” Mr Ndambuki said. “Given that records are a major source of information that facilitates government transactions, an improved records management system will increase public sector efficiency,” Ndambuki said. (Xinhua)
