'Email is cheaper than a letter,' Ruto now says govt to go paperless

Speaking on Friday during a Cabinet Retreat at the Fairmont Mt Kenya Safari Club in Nyeri County, President Ruto emphasized that ‘traditional’ forms of communication were derailing government service delivery and thus the need to tap into the digital space.

He, therefore, announced that from the next cabinet session, communication will be paperless. 

“From the next cabinet meetings, Mercy Wanjau has assured us that our meetings are going to be paperless. We are going to run our cabinet on the basis of the digital space,” President Ruto said.

“Progressively it will be expected of government in every department to leverage on technology to make government much more efficient.”

The head of state reiterated the need for digitizing services in his administration saying it would ensure efficiency in delivery and bolster innovation.

“Sending a letter takes longer than sending an email. The email arrives instant, the letter tells us we have to get a messenger and another motorbike and another messenger on the other side, a receptionist on the other side and all manner of bureaucracy,” he said.

“I think it is time Kenyans got value for resources they have put at our disposal to run their affairs.”

According to the president, embracing technology will also help save the government a lot of resources which in turn generates more capital for the country.

Just like with the recently rolled out Hustler Fund, he encouraged his cabinet to consult one another and be creative in forging new and efficient ways which would create revenue for the country and at the same time save the public lots of expenses.

“Every Principal Secretary and Cabinet Secretary must make it their business to work with the Ministry of ICT so that government services in your departments in the areas of your jurisdiction are digitized in the next six months so that the people of Kenya can access government without too much bureaucracy,” he noted.

He added: “Technology can make the administration not just professional but most importantly efficient... It should be possible for the people of Kenya to access government services on their phones.”

Consequently, the commander-in-chief revealed a plan to come up with revenue-generating programmes in the agricultural sector and other ministries.

He said technology would curb cases of tax evasion in regard to the government's efforts in increasing its tax income.

"Using technology, we will also close the loopholes of pilferage and loss of government revenue. Already we are making very huge steps …in matters pertaining to tax...We have at the moment 15% which is 300 government services digitized, 5000 are not complete. The whole government approach is that we must be creative and innovative... there are areas in which we do not have to use public resources to drive the government agenda," President Ruto stated.

“We will use technology to support farmers with any subsidy programmes the government has in order to eliminate brokers and cartels. We will have to break up groups, to delve into issues and every ministry will give us a timeline for the implementation of projects and program."