Challenges towards e-government adoption in Kenyan public administration: A survey of provincial administration Uasin-Gishu County

Abstract

Governments around the world are trying to transform themselves in order to ensure that Public Administrations provide effective service delivery to the public. The invention of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) led to the adoption of reforms based on its use in forms of governance which is called E-government. Despite its foreseen impacts on efficiency of governance, there are a lot of challenges that hinder governments in adopting the new technology. This thesis assessed the level of ICT infrastructure coverage; forms used in Provincial Administration, Information and Communication Technology usage, knowledge on e-government and reviewed factors that challenge its adoption. The research sought to answer what the level of ICT infrastructure coverage is, what were the forms of communication technology used, how often they were used and what were the challenges faced in ICT adoption process. The guiding theory of the research was the open systems theory. The study targeted the Provincial Administration officers and the adult members of public (MoP) comprising of 100 and 58 respectively in Uasin-Gishu County. Qualitative research approach was used to describe the outcome of the study. Data was obtained by use of both questionnaires and interview schedules. The data was presented in form of tables, pie charts and through description. The main findings of the study are: the forms of ICT infrastructure in application were voice services with massive mobile infrastructure and limited fixed/landline and internet, mobile phone usage was common place while internet use was low. E-government was not popular among provincial administration officers and the challenges facing the adoption of e-government affected both the MoP and the Provincial Administration officers and were of a technical, economic and social nature. It was concluded that Information and Communication Technology adoption in PA in the county was skewed because mobile use was prevalent; internet infrastructure was minimal with PA offices neither connected by any cable nor wireless internet infrastructure, despite the presence of cable, wireless and Wi-Fi local area networks. The recommendations of this study were: massive sensitization of e-government policy should be carried out; ICT infrastructure should be equally built especially in government offices; electricity connection should be facilitated to have all government offices powered, and that ICT training programme for PA officers should be put in place for the officers to be able to handle ICT. With the new Administration in Kenya that support ICT adoption, PA should be at the forefront in support of e-government.