Developing ICT-enabled service delivery system for Municipal council of Eldoret

Abstract

Although Kenyan local authorities can benefit from ICTs in improving efficiency and effectiveness of their management and operations, this is not currently happening. Successful implementation of ICTs could go a long way in improving public service delivery in Kenyan local authorities. The development of e-services in local authorities in Kenya should be scaled from being merely informational or interactive to being truly transactional and eventually to being fully collaborative at the highest level of maturity. This may be achieved despite the challenges faced by local authorities in Kenya. This study investigated the current public services offered by Municipal Council of Eldoret (MCE) with a view to designing and developing an ICT-enabled service delivery system for increased efficiency and effectiveness. The specific objectives of the study were to: establish the current public services offered by MCE and their significance; determine the challenges affecting the quality of services in MCE; ascertain the efforts and measures taken by the MCE in developing ICT-enabled service delivery systems; establish the level of skills required by the public and MCE to support the development and effective use of ICT-enabled services; and develop a prototype for ICT-enabled service delivery system in MCE. This study was based on the concept of user acceptance of ICTs as a requisite condition for the successful implementation of any IT project, derived from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of Technology (UTAUT). Data was collected from thirty one key respondents from MCE. The data collection instruments used included interview schedules and document analysis. Data collected was analyzed using qualitative data analysis technique. The research established that MCE offers a range of important public services in a multi-stakeholder environment. The significance of these public services places a high premium on MCE to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the council‟s service delivery systems. However, there are important challenges affecting public service delivery in the council including financial, human resource and technical challenges among others. Because of these challenges, the council has only achieved the first two levels of e-service hierarchy namely information and interactive levels. The study further revealed that there was a great deal of enthusiasm for the development of higher levels of e-service delivery systems. To this end, the study proposed and developed a prototype for Online Transaction Service System (OTSS) towards effective and efficient public service delivery in the council. Keywords: ICT-enabled services, online transaction service system, e-government, e-service.