This archive report was first published on 28 August 2019.
On August 28, 2019, the Kenyan government initiated a massive digitization exercise of birth and death records stored manually in the registrar of births and deaths countrywide.
The exercise, which aims to increase efficiency and reduce paperwork, has already started in Rachuonyo region with 97 data entry and verification clerks undergoing training.
According to Tom Monda, the registrar of births and deaths in Rachuonyo East, South, and North Sub-counties, the training of the clerks will last for two days before the digitization process begins.
Already, the birth and death records have been scanned, and the government is concerned about the current slow process, which it wants to change to a digital platform.
After the exercise, Kenyans will be able to access birth or death records from any office offering the service anywhere in the country, as one computer server will cater for all offices nationwide.
During the 30-day exercise, which officially started on August 29, 2019, 450,000 births and deaths records stored in the office from 1998 to 2019 will be digitized.
Each clerk has a target of 150 records to handle per day and will earn Sh6 for every record entered in the digital platform.
Update, search, and retrieval of records will be easier since one will only be required to key in the entry number, making it possible to access records through the e-citizen platform.
