President William Ruto has revived the conversation on the urgent need to digitize the physical records of the National Police Service, Kenya Prisons, and the National Youth Service.
Speaking at State House during the launch of the Strategic Framework for Implementing Reforms in the three services,
Ruto emphasized the importance of modernizing these institutions’ systems to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accountability.
Ruto specifically highlighted the need to digitize the police Occurrence Book (OB), which he believes should be in a digital form to prevent tampering.
He expressed his awareness of the ongoing process to digitize this and other services, urging for its completion in the shortest time possible.
The President also announced plans to onboard the police service in the automation process of payment of instant fines at police stations for accountability purposes.
He emphasized the need to stop dealing with cash, noting that the entire government would soon go fully cashless.
The government launched the digitization of the police service management information system in 2019, but the process did not yield the desired results.
Earlier this year, agencies under the National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) agreed to support the National Police Service to digitize its operations to enhance efficiency in the justice sector.
The processes earmarked for digitization include the Occurrence Book at police stations, charge sheets, cash bail records, and the operationalisation of instant traffic fines.
Ruto mentioned that there is current legislation before parliament that has been proposed as part of the reform process.
He encouraged the implementing teams to expedite the formulation of policies that have been worked on “so that we can engage parliament in the shortest time possible.”
