At WSO2Con Africa 2026, ICT Secretary Mary N. Kerema assessed Kenya’s digital progress, noting its 22,000 online government services as a strong front-end achievement. However, she highlighted the manual backend processes as the true challenge, stating, “The problem is our backend is still pretty manual.” Kerema emphasized that while citizens can submit requests digitally, the subsequent manual handling undermines efficiency, exemplified by passport applicants still carrying physical documents despite the government already holding the data.
According to Kerema, the problem is that the backend is still pretty manual, which means that an online form gets filed digitally, but is then processed by hand behind the scenes, resulting in a delay. This is evident in the passport office, where applicants still have to carry physical files of birth certificates and other documents that the government already holds in its systems.
Kerema stated that citizens should not have to carry these documents between offices when the data already exists. The reason, she said, is that no single agency holds a trusted, shared version of the truth, so each office asks citizens to prove what should already be provable.
Government Enterprise Architecture
The fix is structural rather than cosmetic. Kenya has launched a Government Enterprise Architecture built on an all-of-government approach, moving away from agencies that operate as isolated silos toward systems designed to work across ministries. This approach aims to provide a single, trusted version of the truth, allowing citizens to access government services without having to prove what should already be provable.
A new interoperability platform is also being developed, which will allow government entities to share data with each other while giving institutions and citizens control over who gets access to what. The goal is to provide a seamless experience for citizens, where they can say what they need, verify their identity, and have connected systems handle the rest.
Shift in Service Design
This is not a purely technical fix, but a shift in how government designs services from the outset, prioritizing outcomes over individual transactions and treating data as shared infrastructure rather than something each department protects on its own. Digitizing the interface was only the first step, and what happens behind it will determine whether citizens in Kenya actually notice a difference.
Role of AI Agents
The goal of the Government Enterprise Architecture is to provide “one citizen, one journey, many government capabilities.” This means that citizens should be able to access multiple government services through a single interface, without having to handle different systems or provide the same information multiple times. By achieving this goal, Kenya can provide a more efficient and effective experience for its citizens.
