Officials recruited to undertake the Huduma number initiative in Ganze Sub County, Kilifi County have been facing challenges in hitting their daily targets owing to network issues and inadequate Huduma namba registration devices.
Ganze location Chief James Thaura Mweni told the press Saturday that locals in the area have taken up the exercise positively and are willing to take part but expressed concern that the large numbers of the people turning up every day to the designated centres fail to get services.
He said for instance there are four clerks in Tsangalaweni sub location with only one device and have to work in turns to register 30 people each in a day which has not been possible due to the network issues.
“We have sensitized our people and are more than willing to participate in this noble exercise which is for their own benefit but they are not able to get the services in time. It is our hope that more tablets will be sent to the area soon to speed up the exercise and meet the targets”, he said.
Thaura said a power bank which is to be used to back up the tablet when it runs out of battery has also not been working causing delays in the registration as they have to halt the exercise from time to time when the gadget gets over heated.
In Kilifi North Sub County, acting chief in Ngerenya location Mrs. Tecla Chai said it took them time to convince the community to accept the exercise revealing that those opposed to it spread rumors that it had connections with the devil.
“It took us time to make our people to understand the benefits of Huduma namba which would relieve them of carrying pockets full of personal documents. We are now overwhelmed by the turn out and hope to meet our target of registering 19,000 people despite the network challenges we are facing in most centres”, she said.
Kilifi county commissioner Magu Mutindika who took the media to some registration centres after addressing them in his office said so far, 87,804 had been registered in the 9 sub counties where by the end of the 45 days, it is projected that 1.4- million people will have been captured.
He gave the projected targets per Sub County as Ganze having 160,000 people, Kaloleni with 250,000, Malindi with 248, 000, Magarini with 159, 000, Kilifi North 144, 000, Kilifi South 149, 000, Rabai 139, 000, Chonyi 84, 000 and Kauma 33, 000 people respectively.
He admitted that there have been network challenges with the gadgets, adding that a server has had to be installed in his office by the ICT team to back up the systems from the field and improve the exercise.
Huduma Namba coast region coordinator George Lugo also admitted that some areas had fewer devices but revealed that the problem has been sorted after additional gadgets were sent to the affected areas.
He also said some 70 more registration devices have been sent to Ganze Sub County alone and dispelled rumors that the devices were meant for Homa Bay in Nyanza region as had been reported earlier on.
By Harrison Yeri
