To protect beneficiaries’ data, digitise Inua Jamii

With President William Ruto keen on digitising all government services through the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy, Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has his work cut out for him.

According to Kenya National Digital Plan, the ministry plans to spend Sh5 billion on digitisation of five billion records. Of these are civil records, in which I notice some inconsistencies in regard to the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme. The Labour and Social Protection ministry describes Inua Jamii as a government strategic intervention to cushion vulnerable Kenyans , most of whom come from poverty-stricken families, and improve their lives.

Sh8.58 billion has been released this month to over a million beneficiaries. But however good it sounds, it has some teething problems arising mostly from ineffectiveness in record and information management for transparency and accountability.

First is the security, storage and the manner in which the confidential records and files of these vulnerable people are handled. While paying out the money, cases of missing names or mismatch of critical details hampers service delivery and management of resources.

Effective coordination

It paints a picture that those in charge are either incompetent or not passionate, as witnessed in most government institutions. The government ought to digitise all the relevant records and offer security, integrity and availability.

Secondly, issues to do with clarity, effective coordination and communication are witnessed when the money is due. Many of the senior citizens, for instance, get wind of it by word of mouth from their neighbours or passers-by, yet the information emanates from public offices. This practice is informal; information is one of the most highly guarded resources, hence what is informally disseminated may not be factual or its veracity ascertained.

In most cases, it is a Sisyphean task, which causes agony and loss of hope among the beneficiaries as it forces them to travel long distances but are turned back. There is thus an urgent need to automate official communication channels to ensure information reaches the targeted audience and on time.

Thirdly, when updating, expunging of information regarding the beneficiaries from the database, some duly registered individuals miss out. Beneficiaries’ particulars, including metadata, must be correctly captured, regularly updated and always secured to preserve data and the database integrity. It must be available and easily accessible on a need basis.

Physical files

On updates of the database and subsequent physical files, some rightful beneficiaries who are dead continue to ‘receive’ the stipend through impostors. The ministries of Labour and ICT should integrate data from the civil registries and other relevant agencies that contain mission critical information.

Lastly, the government ought to automate the age of legible beneficiaries; when one attains the prescribed age, 65, they should be automatically added to the programme and start receiving the cash.

Digitisation will improve accountability, hence effective tracking of beneficiaries’ information on the web portal regarding action taken, the total amount disbursed, pending payments and deferred cases.

Mr Mohamed is a records and information practitioner at Nepad/APRM Kenya Secretariat. [email protected].