Historically, the Government of Kenya has grappled with the problem of poor service delivery in its public service. The government in the early 1990s tried a range of interventions to remedy this situation. The Government retrenched more than 100,000 civil servants but had only a negligible impact on the effectiveness or efficiency of the civil service. The Government then introduced results-oriented management, but by 2005 nothing much had come out of it. In 2013, the government introduced the concept of Huduma Centres, to transform public service delivery by providing citizens access to various public services and information. It aims to provide efficient government services at the convenience of the citizen by amalgamating related services within one building, possibly on the same floor, effectively making it possible for service seekers to access it conveniently. However, many questions have been raised on whether Huduma centres have added any value to service delivery. The study, therefore, seeks to assess the effect of Huduma centres in service delivery to the public.
The main objective of this study was to analyze the effect of Huduma Centres in service delivery within Mombasa town. The specific objectives of the study were; to establish if Huduma Centres influence transparency in service delivery; to assess if they enhance reliability of government services, and to determine if the centres result in customer satisfaction in government service delivery.
The study adopted a case study research design. In this investigation, the population comprised members of the public accessing government services at the Centre. The study used purposive sampling method to select 30 respondents for data collection. The data collection instrument used was a questionnaire.
Majority of the customers were pleased with the level of transparency, with but slightly low levels of service awareness and clarity of procedures of accessing the relevant service. Most were generally satisfied with the reliability of service delivery at the Huduma Centre. Majority of the respondents felt that officers serving them were courteous, but also felt that the issue of adequacy of staffing levels needs to be addressed. The customers were satisfied with services offered at Huduma Centre. The respondents were satisfied with how complaints were addressed, and almost every respondent was willing to recommend others to seek services at the Centre.
In the study the major complaints made by the customers were delays at some counters. In this regard, the study recommends the employment of more personnel to give quality and efficient services and the opening of more branches to meet the demand.
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Josephine Wanjugu KariukiAbdalla, A. G., Kiragu, J. K., & Ono, F. A. W. F. T. (2015). Effect of Huduma Centers (One Stop Shops) in Service Delivery– A Case Study of Mombasa Huduma Centre. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 5(6). 93-106.
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