Waiguru praises Huduma Centre decade of success

So far, 59 centres have been established in all 47 counties, with Nairobi hosting five.

by ALICE WAITHERA

Central25 August 2025 - 07:00

In Summary

By 2024, they were serving nearly 28,000 walk-in customers daily through counters, call centres and digital platforms.
She said Huduma centres were her brainchild, initiated in 2014 under the Ministry of Devolution and Planning that she was heading, with the first piloted at Nairobi’s GPO before the model was rolled out across the nation.

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has hailed the remarkable growth of Huduma centres across the country, a decade after she pioneered the transformative concept as CS for Devolution and Planning.

She hosted Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen during Jukwaa La Usalama Kirinyaga Chapter tour, and accompanied him to the Kerugoya Huduma Centre where he launched a rapid registration exercise for birth certificates and national identity cards on Saturday.

The exercise will ensure identity cards are issued within three days of application, a development Waiguru praised as a major win for the youth.

“We had a big concern with the turnover time it was taking to get IDs for our youth but we are very thankful for the additional machines you have brought here today,” Waiguru said.

She said Huduma centres were her brainchild, initiated in 2014 under the Ministry of Devolution and Planning that she was heading, with the first piloted at Nairobi’s GPO before the model was rolled out across the nation.

“This initiative has since become a transformative model for delivering government services efficiently and closer to the people. We now look forward to further decentralisation of Huduma centres to all subcounty levels,” the governor said.

So far, 59 centres have been established in all 47 counties, with Nairobi hosting five.

By 2024, they were serving nearly 28,000 walk-in customers daily through counters, call centres and digital platforms.

The one-stop shops provide a wide range of services under one roof, including birth and death certificates, ID cards, NHIF, NSSF, KRA and business registrations, greatly reducing queues and bureaucratic delays.

The innovation earned Waiguru international acclaim after she won the 2015 United Nations Public Service Award after recognition by the African Association of Public Administration and Management for improving efficiency in public service delivery.

Huduma remains a flagship programme under Kenya’s Vision 2030.

“The Huduma Kenya programme has already proven its value, but to deepen its impact, we need to take it closer to the people at the grassroots. Expanding these services to subcounties would be a game changer for wananchi,” the governor noted.

Now at the county level, Waiguru has replicated the Huduma model in Kirinyaga by setting up a Huduma-style service desk at the county headquarters.

Located on the ground floor, the centre consolidates devolved services and includes targeted facilitation for persons with disabilities, eliminating the traditional office-to-office runaround.

The visit underscored the growing collaboration between the national and county governments in enhancing service delivery, while also reaffirming Waiguru’s legacy as a reform-driven leader whose innovation continues to shape governance in Kenya.