Kenya focuses on government services

Faced with fast-declining domestic mail volumes (-15% in 2011) Kenya’s Post (PCK) has adopted a new strategy to offer government services, such as the processing of driving licenses, birth certificates and passports at its 500+ post offices. The objective is to reduce the Post’s over-reliance on mail services.

In practice the Kenyan Post intends to team up with those regional governments that have poor customer-facing infrastructures. The Post intends to derive revenue from the application fees paid by citizens in Kenya.

This is not PCK’s first attempt to embrace third-party services. The Post is already acting as a collecting agent for water and electricity providers and insurance companies. According to its web site, the Post is also able to make payments in cash (e.g., to pay salaries) at its local offices. The soon-to-be-privatized Postal Savings Bank, still partly-owned by PCK, also offers agency services on behalf of utilities such as the Kenyan Power and  Lighting Company KPLC).

http://allafrica.com/stories/201202210600.html