Kenyan Government needs its Design Principles Pronounced

3 min read

These principles will act as reference when designing government digital services. I believe this system will allow for delivery of consistent and inclusive digital solutions which are also cheaper for the taxpayer.

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 17, 2023/-- 11 months ago the Kenya Kwanza Coalition won a highly contested election with its flagbearer, President William Ruto promising to maintain the discipline they had in executing the campaign to that of implementing government policies.

As the transition was talking place, there was a lot of social media buzz about how the official standard of the President will look like. Many were certain that he would drop his United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party symbol of a wheelbarrow and maintain its party colours of yellow, while some thought he would embrace a different colour. These rumors were emboldened by unconfirmed leaked images published on social media.

The President prudently settled on a yellow presidential standard with a wheelbarrow. This was then designed and delivered by the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) which is mandated to do so.

The official flag, hoisted alongside the national flag is the first thing you see when you visit State House or the presence of the President is broadcast.

The design is simple and communicates its essence to all Kenyans. This clear workflow of problem-solution through design by government (KDF in this case) is lacking in general government service delivery.

Currently, as a country we have a noticeable Government Identity System maintained by brand.ke which offers branding guidelines, while servicing marketing needs for mainly export promotion. In addition, we have a vague design framework for the recently launched Gava Mkononi, formerly Huduma Digital Services which was plagued by buzz words and hard to work with.

What I'm calling for is a clear rudimentary system with a larger scope of government service delivery. One that ensures streamlined communication within government, its agencies and partners, as well as meeting essential service to its citizens.

For a coherent Government Design Principles Guide, I would suggest we studiously copy the aspects of the United Kingdom government's design system. In accordance with UK government's service delivery it uses 10 principles to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability.

When we were reviewing our design studio ethos and aligning them to a more Human-Centered approach I found this necessity of a shared national guidance similar to that of GOV.UK.

In my proposal, we should develop afresh a set of tenets bundled into the Civil Service Manual and then integrated with eCitizen platform. These principles will act as reference when designing government digital services. I believe this system will allow for delivery of consistent and inclusive digital solutions which are also cheaper for the taxpayer.

The initiative can be supported by a dedicated team led by a Director of Design at the Government Digital Service based at the State Department for Citizen Services.

I'm also of the opinion that such a framework would run smoothly with the current government's intention to create a Digital Identity (a single source of truth) paired with a Unique Personal Identifier.

The laid out principles should be publicized and evangelized akin to what we have done for the elements of our Constitution.

In conclusion, I wish to leave you with this one design principle copied verbatim from GOV.UK

Do Less > Government should only do what only government can do. If we’ve found a way of doing something that works, we should make it reusable and shareable instead of reinventing the wheel every time. This means building platforms and registers others can build upon, providing resources (like APIs) that others can use, and linking to the work of others. We should concentrate on the irreducible core.

By Phineahs Munene

email feedback to phineahs [at] wazomoja.com

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