Service delivery by various departments of Murang’a County government is set to improve once a bill recently passed by the local assembly is assented to law.
The county assembly passed Service Standardization Bill 2022 aimed to promote efficiency and effectiveness in delivery of county government services.
On Tuesday in a press conference, the Assembly Speaker Nduati Kariuki exuded confidence that the current governor will assent the bill before he leaves his office next month.
Nduati observed that once the bill becomes an Act, people seeking services from various departments of the devolved units will easily be served without unnecessary delays.
The speaker noted that lack of a guiding legal framework and a performance management system has occasioned inefficient and poor services by some departments of the county government.
“Some departments lack service charters that prescribe their roles and mode of operations, this puts residents into confusion when they seek to be served. The county has also been operating on manual procedures that are bureaucratic and non-transparent. These are problems that prevent effective service delivery in the county,” explained Nduati.
The speaker stated that the Bill provides for digitization of all services saying use of modern technology will hasten delivery of services and seal loopholes which are used to perpetuate corruption.
“One of the important requirements of the County Services Standardization Bill 2022, once enacted, is to set timelines within which a particular service should be delivered once an applicant has complied with all the requirements which should be set out very clearly,” he stated.
The Act, Nduati added, will also obligate service providers to communicate with the applicants if, for any reason, a service cannot be delivered within the set timelines.
“This is meant to safeguard the applicant from the time wasting and humiliating experience of being told to report to the office time and time again to check on the progress of his or her application,” remarked the Speaker.
He continued, “the Act will also, hopefully, reduce temptation of corrupt and unethical practices in service provision.”
Nduati advocated for creation of an e-government system that will connect the people to service provision through a transparent and structured feedback and reporting framework.
“A monitoring and evaluation system for recording, tracking and comparative analysis will enhance service delivery where every county executive member will be evaluated on what he or she has done,” he further stated.
The Speaker said with the Act being in place, service delivery by the next Murang’a county government is expected to be highly improved, saying the legal framework allows any dissatisfied residents to sue for poor services.
By Bernard Munyao
