Civil registration office in Naivasha has achieved a major milestone in issuance of births and death certificates after reporting zero backlog in uncollected documents, thanks to the government-backed digitization initiative.
The digitization process backed by the Rapid Result Initiative [RRI] system launched in 2019 has seen thousands of physical records digitized allowing for quick search and retrieval of information for any further processing.
Naivasha Sub County Deputy Registrar of Persons, Saruni Lemargeroi said the RRI system has helped the department process both births and death certificates within minutes which has enabled the office to serve over 100 from the previous average of 30 clients per day.
Lemargeroi said they have so far scanned and digitized more than 200,000 individual documents from their registry which has enabled easy accessibility and retrieval of clients’ records by the click of a button as compared to the tedious manual files search.
This, he added has enabled the critical department issue over 24,000 combined certificates from June last year surpassing its set performance targets by 5,000 units thanks to reduced processing period from previous time of three days to the current 30 minutes.
Lemargeroi lauded the government for the noble initiative and for supporting the department with critical modern ICT facilities including computers, printers and steady supply of printing materials which have enhanced efficiency in processing the documents.
The registrar was happy to note that the scanning and digitization of personal records has been one of the most transformative undertakings in enhancing public service delivery.
“Currently, we have zero backlog of uncollected certificates thanks to the adoption of the government Rapid Result Initiative [RRI] that has drastically reduced the processing period,” said Lemargeroi, noting, the clients can apply and wait to take away their documents the same day, while in the past they had to make an extra trip to the office for collection.
Lemargeroi added that the department has been working closely with public administration officers through holding of public barazas and forums to create more awareness on the importance of having a birth certificate as well as help in registering of births/deaths from their areas.
The department has also collaborated with other relevant stakeholders including area health facilities which are the first link in registration of birth records to ensure a more seamless process.
He at the same time urged parents to register for birth certificates early noting that it will help ease the congestion usually experienced when there is dire need to use the documents.
With the vastness of Naivasha sub-county, the record time processing of certificates has helped area residents reduce time spent in search for the crucial documents.
By Erastus Gichohi and Calvin Osiemo
