Mombasa: The government will allocate Sh500 million in the 2025/2026 financial year budget to build more Huduma Centres, upgrade the deteriorating ones, and modernise the equipment. The Principal Secretary, State Department for Public Service, Amos Gathecha, said the move aimed at expanding service delivery and ensuring efficiency in operations while addressing the existing gaps.
According to Kenya News Agency, speaking during the second annual Huduma Centre Managers’ conference held at the Kenya School of Government (KSG) Mombasa Campus, the PS stated that the Government was implementing austerity measures in budget implementation. He encouraged the managers to embrace the approach of doing more with less and devise creative and innovative solutions to bridge the resource gap. Gathecha highlighted the importance of Huduma Centres in improving the government’s image, emphasizing quick action against any misconduct.
The conference provided a platform to review successes and challenges, identify areas for improvement and collaboration, and strategize on actualizing the Huduma Kenya mandate of transforming Public Service by ensuring access to efficient, effective, dignified, and citizen-centric services. Gathecha stressed the aim of enhancing customer experience, aligning with the conference’s theme, ‘Service with a Smile.’
He further noted that a crucial element of the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) is providing government services online. In August 2023, during the 1st conference, the government had just launched the e-Citizen platform with 5,000 services. Today, this platform offers over 20,000 online services.
Huduma Kenya operates through four platforms, including 57 centers represented at the conference, Huduma Mashinani Outreach, Huduma Contact Centre, and Huduma e-platforms. These platforms have a total of 2600 staff members that serve an average of 28,000 daily customers across the country. As of December 31, 2024, the Huduma centres achieved a customer satisfaction level of 80.8%, showing a 2% increase from the first quarter, with plans to push this satisfaction rate to 95% in the 2024-2025 financial year.
Huduma Centre Manager in West Pokot, Elvis Makhoha, acknowledged the Ministry’s efforts in supporting the centres’ growth. He suggested including centre managers in training to equip them with skills to handle modern challenges, thereby improving service delivery. He also addressed the issue of frequent staff transfers affecting service delivery and requested the PS’s intervention.
Accompanying the PS were Huduma Kenya CEO Ben Kai Chilumo, Director General of the Kenya School of Government Nura Mohammed, and 57 Huduma Centre Managers representing all counties, among other top government officials.