Management of records in support of service delivery at Uasin - Gishu County government in Kenya

Abstract

Public service delivery by County Governments is increasingly being recognized as a pillar of development and public engagement with citizens in Kenya. Good records management practices ensure that County Governments are efficient and accountable. The County governments have been riddled with malpractices thanks to graft and unprofessional practices that can directly be associated with deficient records management systems. The aim of the study was to examine the status of records management and its contributions to service delivery at Uasin-Gishu County government with a view of identifying the challenges and proposing an appropriate framework to enhance the management of records. The objectives were to; investigate how records are management at Uasin-Gishu county and the effect on service delivery; examine how records management contribute towards the accomplishment of services ;establish the relationship for service delivery integration of ICT’s in the various County operations and services; identify the challenges faced by Uasin-Gishu County in the management of records and service delivery; and to propose an appropriate framework that aligns records management with service delivery. The study was based on the records continuum model and the Service Canada Model used by the Canadian Government. Qualitative research approach was used in the study using a case study design. The study population was one hundred and twelve respondents purposively drawn based on work experience in records management and service delivery of various departments of Uasin-Gishu County headquarters. Key findings were that Uasin-Gishu County headquarters generated a lot of paper based records: the state of records management at the County headquarters was poor while service delivery practices were of low standards. The study concluded that the poor state of records management had contributed to poor service delivery making the County Government inefficient in delivery services to the citizens. The study recommended that Uasin-Gishu County should adopt a comprehensive records management and service delivery model similar to the one proposed by the study to aid in achieving better records management and service delivery strategies.