Digitisation in the public sector

Introduction

The internet has become part of the daily lives of billions of people around the world. As of January 2020, the global online penetration rate was 59 percent. Consumers in the digital internet age are more informed, leading to increasing demands, and citizens are more demanding of their governments. With that in mind, governments must adopt digital means to deliver improved services to their citizens. Kenya overview The Government of Kenya has undertaken various initiatives to drive effective and efficient public service delivery. This has resulted in the improvement of ICT infrastructure across the country, institutionalisation of regulatory acts and policies and the implementation of innovative e-services and e-portals. The government has also formulated a blueprint to power the country’s transformation into a digital economy. The government envisions a digitally empowered citizenry living in a digitally enabled society and the blueprint highlights five key pillars that will drive the growth of the digital economy: digital government, digital business, infrastructure, innovation-driven entrepreneurship and digital skills and values. Digitisation has improved revenue administration through the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) which is integrated with the Kenyan Central Bank’s G-Pay system. The process of filing and collecting taxes has also been digitised through the iTax platform. The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) attribute the effectiveness of their revenue collection processes to the digitisation of payments. Digitisation has also created more efficient revenue administration from the central government to county governments as well as facilitated payments to suppliers and social protection programmes for targeted groups. Despite these investments and initiatives, the provision of e-government services still requires significant improvement. It is often silo based (department-driven) and some parastatal services are still manual. A number of counties have also implemented different systems, which cannot be easily integrated into the central government systems without manual interventions. Global Trends The automation of government services can help to drive the government's big four agenda in Kenya. We have seen instances globally of e-government technology enabling governments to achieve step changes in their policy implementation. Finland and Estonia collaborated to develop an online ‘education cloud’ that joins educational platforms and materials through digital technology. Technology can facilitate mutually-beneficial collaboration, in this case between two different countries with the same objective. In the health sector, the Danish health portal Sundhed.dk is owned jointly by the Ministry of Health, the Danish Regions and Local Government Denmark. It gathers data from all the main health actors across different levels of government, including general practitioners, and gives citizens access to health-related information. The provision of services on mobile platforms is another way that governments can align with citizens’ digital preferences and behaviours. WeChat, a widely used mobile app in China, is accepted by some provincial governments for passport and visa applications. Progressing the government’s digitisation agenda in Kenya There are four main areas that Kenya’s government should prioritise on its digitisation journey:

1. Governance and oversight The government should prioritise good governance and appropriate measurement metrics, support technology incubators and implement tax deductions for tech start-ups. The 20th edition of the Kenya Economic Update: Securing Future Growth report notes that for Kenya to keep pace with technology innovation and the growth of the global digital economy, it will require stronger digital foundations, such as new regulations and policy guidelines designed to support digital transformation. Policies that govern the taxation of the digital economy in Kenya are unclear and need to be reviewed. Relevant ICT policies and strategy documents should also be reviewed and updated periodically. 2. Attraction and retention of key talent The government requires qualified and skilled people to drive the digitisation agenda. Initiatives to attract or retain talent could include giving flexibility on pay and job classifications to key IT talent, publicising interesting initiatives which can give IT talent relevant experience, working closely with higher institutions/universities by holding events which involve solving important problems and offering internships to students. Government could also consider partnering with private sector stakeholders who can dedicate time to help the government formulate its initiatives or be part of its governance team to drive the various initiatives. 3. Process automation Despite the advancements made by the government, the rate of automation could be improved further. There are several key processes in government parastatals that are still being executed manually, for example. Government should formulate a roadmap for the automation of its processes and key services for citizens that is properly monitored. Digitisation should not just focus on processes and services but should also consider the entire lifecycle of a citizen's interactions with government and areas where the government can add value to that lifecycle.