Kenya has been known to be one of the most corrupt countries in Africa. The level of transparency and accountability is quite low or sometimes simply not there. We have tried different methods and ways to try reduce corruption but so far nothing has worked. This is why a new project is being worked on aimed at strengthening transparency in Kenya. The mobile application will enable Kenyan’s to track the government’s expenses both at a national and county level. The two main sectors that have had an issue with governance has been both the health and education sector.
The two highest recipients of government funding have been the most sensitive sectors that have been mismanaged for a while now. Keeping in mind that there has been a high level of corruption in these two sectors, this app could be exactly what we need as a game changer. The app is designed to help people locate public hospitals and schools near them. The app is also meant to provide sites for both the hospitals and schools. For schools, parents will be able to view the teacher population and the teacher to student’s ratio. As for the hospitals, the app will provide data on the available staff and services offered.
The app will be free and available for everyone. It will be available on androids and is said to be very user friendly. The idea is to empower Kenyan citizens with information that will help them fight corruption. People will finally have a voice through this new app giving Kenyans the chance to participate in exposing corruption. As the Kenyan government continues to embrace IT as a way to connect to the population the easier it will be for Kenyans to track expenditures and question the government as well. In hope that this app does not fall to be a corruption scheme the government will have to manage any loopholes that may be in this app so that no information is deterred.
Just like any other major app that is created it means opportunities are generated. Jobs will be created for those who will manage the app and the sites. This will at the very least reduce unemployment and push Kenya to be a digitized system that will hopefully work smoothly.