Thread by @gathara

Question: When one applies for a replacement document online on @eCitizenKenya and the system says it is ready, why does one need to pay to print out a physical copy of the form in order to collect it? GoK already has the digital copy, no? Seems like a bit of a scam to me.

Also, if the document is ready, why not send you a digital copy that you can print out? This idea of having people spend hours to pick up "original" documents seems most anachronistic for a GoK that used to describe itself as "digital", no?

Presented my form and now waiting in a large crowded hall for someone to call out my name (no one tells you exactly what it is you are waiting for) and I shudder to think of how folks who are deaf or hard of hearing are expected to navigate this.

Also, lots of scraps of paper being passed around which I would think is the very antithesis of "digital" services. Feels like the time GoK would by computers and then call that "computerization" even though all info continued to be stored on old paper files.

After waiting for an hour, just been called, handed back my paper form with a number scribbled on and asked to go to Counter 4 (no information why: "he will advise you") where about a dozen folks are waiting to be served.

The guy manning the counter says it is to "confirm" something which makes little sense. What is the point of applying online and having the portal say your document is ready, if you then have to queue for hours for staff to "confirm" the same thing?

After another hour of waiting, the guy "confirms" on his computer, in less than a minute, that my document is actually not ready and says I should return in a week to "check" (no guarantee). Remember, the @eCitizenKenya portal had indicated that the document was "ready".

In total, a waste of about three hours, including the commute. This is what the "digital" service GoK likes to crow about actually looks like. It is just the same rubbish, corrupt, inefficient system with a coat of online paint.