The government has embarked on digitizing all manual records in all the departments as part of easing service delivery and access to information.
This came as it emerged that seven percent of government records got lost every year either due to poor filing and natural disasters like floods and fire.
This emerged during the 8th Kenya Association of Records Managers and Archives (KARMA) conference in Lake Naivasha Resort that is meant to take stock in the sector.
According to the CS for Information, Communication and Digital Economy Dr Margaret Nyambura, the government was keen to digitize all its services.
The CS said that currently over 19,000 services have been digitized with plans to double the services in the coming year by increasing Internet connectivity.
“As part of automating government services, we have come up with various measures including rolling out fibre optic as part of the Kenya National Digital Master plan,” she said.
Addressing the press on the side-lines of the meeting, Nyambura noted that the master-plan included coming up with digital hubs across the country.
She lauded the role played by records manager in government agencies adding that many times they were undervalued
“We are working closely with partners to make sure that the manual records in government agencies are digitized in all the departments as part of easing service delivery,” she said.
She noted that the on-going digital transformation had come in handy in the digital economy which was expanding fast across the country and in all sectors.
“The country has the technology to fully digitize the economy and make sure that we move from manual recording to paperless service delivery,” she said.
On his part, KARMA Chairman Dr Cleophas Ambira said that the Association was committed to digitising all manual records in the government departments.
He said that the association was working on capacity building for their staff as part of making sure that the government services were paperless.
Ambira noted that research indicated that over seven percent of data was lost due to poor filing and hence the need to move with haste and change the recording system.
“We have seen crucial data lost due to poor filing and this will soon be a thing of the past once we digitize all manual records in government departments,” he said.
