An Assessment of Electronic Government in Kenya - A Case Study of the Civil Registration Department of Kenya

Abstract

In recent years there has been an increasing focus in many countries on the concept of electronic government, commonly referred as e-government. Many countries see it as a central component of efforts to "modernize" or "reinvent" government. In Kenya there has been discussion around using an e-government initiative to move from the traditional "ancient" model to a modem "networked" model. This Research study analyses the status of e-government in the Civil Registration of Kenya and in particular government-to-citizen (G2C) form of e-government. Creating e-government in the Civil Registration will involve a major change. The key challenges are not only technological but also those related to culture, infrastructure, economic, structural adjustment, political landscape and business strategy. E-government is not driven by a single discipline such as information technology but a variety. The forces are derived from the social objectives of public administration in balancing efficiency, effectiveness and social efficacy, as well as, coping with the changing political landscape at both organizational and national levels. E-readiness is a prerequisite to the creation and implementation of e-government. E-readiness involves-assessing the Civil Registration's relative degree of advancement in the areas of Networked World for lCT adoption and the basic applications of lCT providing a robust portrayal of e-readiness level and the e-government status. Data collected from the Civil Registration, the service providers and the public regarding the status, deployment, adoption and usage of lCT has been mapped onto the CID model, a framework for assessing ereadiness thus providing the status of e-government. The low level degree of e-readiness in the Civil Registration from the assessed areas of the I networked world should be of interest to the government, Civil Registration executives, policy makers and stakeholders when developing strategic plans and in investment prioritization. The level of e-readiness in the Civil Registration provides the basis and good reason for a need to carry out a comprehensive collection of a complete and current data on the various ICT and e-readine~s indicators in all government agencies. The findings will contribute greatly and consequently form the basis for an e-government strategic plan and lCT policy framework in Kenya.