This archive report was first published on 1 September 2019.
Posta's Struggle to Stay Relevant ¶
For Laura Mugese, the post office holds a special place in her heart. As a student at Mukumu Girl's Boarding Primary School in the 1990s, she relied on letters to stay in touch with her parents who lived in Nakuru. Her parents kept a mailbox at the post office in Nakuru, where they would receive important documents such as bank statements, electricity and water bills, and school report forms.
However, the queues at post offices have dwindled in recent years, and even banks and service providers like Kenya Power and water firms no longer rely on the postal system to send out statements and bills to customers. The proliferation of mobile technology has forced Posta to adapt its services and find new revenue streams.
According to figures from the Communication Authority, between January and March this year, about 13 million letters were posted locally. To shore up its finances, Posta has announced a move into the logistics business, specifically clearing and forwarding, through the National Logistics Hub and Posta Cargo Services.
Posta's Postmaster General, Dan Kagwe, notes that the courier business has grown tremendously over the years, and the corporation is adopting a number of recommendations, including partnerships with online retailers such as Jumia to allow it to use postal services to deliver customers' orders.
Former Information and Communication Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo believes that Posta should centre its business on logistics and rebuild the trust consumers had in them. He also faults the pace of digitising operations at Posta, saying it took them too long to realise that digital is the way forward.
Despite the challenges, Posta is optimistic about its future and is launching new products such as M-Post, which uses a mobile phone as a postal address, and Tunza Nyumba na Posta, EMS2Go, Postal Digital Parcel Locker, and E-Njiwa. The corporation is also working to promote its services and attract new customers.
However, there are still points of concurrence between technology and the reducing number of letter and packages being sent. Senders can now track the status of their letters and packages using the Posta website, and the influx of private courier firms has dealt a heavy blow to the corporation.
