Malawi taps e-service delivery knowledge from Kenya

Malawi’s High Commissioner to Kenya Perks Ligoya has described effective communication and information delivery as key to government’s e-service delivery and citizen engagement.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Thursday after meeting a delegation from Malawi benchmarking on government web-portal in Nairobi, he said the country has a lot to learn from Kenya on how it has transformed its information and service delivery through online services and the Huduma centre, a one-stop centre for all government services.

“There is a lot that Malawi can do to improve its communication systems. We should not sit on information, but deliver it to the right audience by utilising government websites, social media and other online services.

“The way Kenya has used its official portal http://www.mygov.go.ke to empower its citizenry is impressive and a mobile phone has become a powerful gadget for the citizens to access information about government and its services,” he said.

Ligoya said the Huduma centre provides many lessons for Malawi Government on how it can improve its service delivery by making them available online and under one roof, which will also ensure that government cuts its cost of expenditure.

Director of information Bright Molande, who was part of the delegation, said Malawi Government is determined to implement a comprehensive programme of bringing information and public services closer to the people using digital platforms and existing infrastructure such as Post offices.

“We have already laid down a new country-wide fibre optic network infrastructure using a private-public partnership facility with Simba Net.

“With enhanced Internet in government offices and the public domain, we can now move to the next level of digital service provision,” he said.

Malawi is in the process of developing a new service provision web portal to improve e-service delivery as outlined in the Public Service Reforms programmes.