Thousands of Kenyans were on Monday left unable to access critical government services after a power outage at a key Huduma Kenya data centre in Nakuru triggered a nationwide disruption across all Huduma Centres.
The outage temporarily shut down access to more than 70 government services offered through the centres, affecting citizens seeking identity documents, business registrations, social security services, court assistance and other essential public services.
In a public notice, Huduma Kenya confirmed that all centres had been affected by the disruption.
“Huduma Kenya wishes to inform the public that services are temporarily unavailable at Huduma Centres due to a power outage that affected our data centre in Nakuru. Our technical teams are working to restore services as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience,” the notice stated.
The interruption is expected to affect thousands of people who depend on Huduma Centres daily as one-stop service delivery points for national and county government services.
Among the services disrupted are applications, renewals and replacements of National Identity Cards, issuance of birth and death certificates, and processing of police abstracts.
Business owners and entrepreneurs are also likely to face delays in accessing services such as business name searches and registrations, while students and graduates may be affected by interruptions to Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) compliance certificate and loan repayment services.
The outage has also disrupted access to National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF/SHA) registration and contribution services.
Judiciary services offered through Huduma Centres, including civil case filing support, payment of court fines and deposits, issuance of summons, virtual court assistance and case inquiries, have also been affected.
Other services currently unavailable include applications for certificates of good conduct, inquiries and claims relating to unclaimed financial assets, and free tele-counselling and mental health support services.
Kenya has 57 Huduma Centres distributed across all 47 counties, with Nairobi hosting five centres while Kajiado and Laikipia each have two.
Beyond inconveniencing citizens, the disruption is expected to slow revenue collection from thousands of fee-based government transactions processed through the centres every day.
Huduma Kenya did not indicate when services would be fully restored but assured the public that efforts were underway to resolve the outage.
“Our technical teams are working to restore services as soon as possible,” the agency said.
