Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has revealed plans to roll out 290 Sub-County Huduma Centres across the country to further boost the delivery of government services.
The CS, while speaking during his visit to Huduma Kenya Secretariat offices in Nairobi, said the goal was to have as many Huduma Centres as possible by 2030, to eliminate the inconvenience of having to travel to another county to access a range of services.
According to the CS, the government has already operationalised six sub-county Huduma centers in Tharaka Nithi, Kajiado, Kiambu, and Laikipia, with the goal being getting to 290 centers in the next few years.
“We are working to make sure that services like renewing a driver’s license are available in more Huduma Centres. Currently, National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) services are only available in 15 out of 57 centres. This must change,” Muturi said.
Despite the presence of some sub-county Huduma Centres, sections of Kenyans still have to make inter-county trips to access services not offered in their home county Huduma centres.
The CS noted: “This is occasioned by partial or non-deployment of these services in all Huduma Centres. For instance, out of the 57 Huduma Centers, the National Transport and Safety Authority services are offered in only 15 Huduma centres. Some citizens have to travel more than 200 kilometres to renew their driver's licenses or apply for new ones."
Further, he revealed that talks were already underway with the NTSA to expand the service's footprint.
“To embody the One-Stop-Shop concept, I urge all ministries, departments, agencies, and counties to deploy services across the Huduma Centers to ensure equitable and seamless service delivery to citizens,” he added.
Muturi's latest remarks came just days after the CS lamented about his docket apparently getting 'starved' of financial resources, thus hampering the initiative to set up modern Huduma Centres.
The CS noted that there was zero development budget in the ministry in regard to the functioning of the Huduma centres, further complaining that his ministry suffered severe budget cuts as part of the government's austerity measures.
As a result of stifled finances, the former National Assembly Speaker said his ministry was forced to partner with MPs through a co-funding model to set up Huduma centres in the other 290 constituencies.
Muturi's docket has been asking the Kenya Kwanza government for a KSh 2 billion budgetary allocation over the years to no avail.
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