Bridging the Gap: How NGEC Is Reimagining Public Service for Kenya’s Most Vulnerable

At Africa Public Service Day 2025, the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) championed digital innovation and inclusive governance to close historic gaps in service delivery across Kenya.

At the heart of the 2025 Africa Public Service Day commemorations was a question that cut through every keynote, panel, and pledge: How do we build a state that sees, hears, and serves every citizen equally?

For the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), the answer lies at the intersection of equity, innovation, and integrity. The Commission stood tall among participants drawn from across the continent, offering a powerful blueprint for governance that does not merely promise inclusion but actively engineers it.

Commissioner Nzomo Mbithuka delivered a presentation that left the audience in quiet reflection and applause. Titled "Leveraging Digitization to Enhance Access to Information and Accountability," his remarks drew parallels between Kenya’s journey and Estonia’s worldrenowned e-Governance model.

“Digitisation is not a luxury—it is a right,” Commissioner Mbithuka began, citing Article 35 of the Constitution on the right of access to information. “When we digitise public service systems, we remove the physical and bureaucratic walls that exclude the youth, persons with disabilities, women in rural settings, and the elderly.”

Equally compelling was Director of Programs and Research, Paul Kuria, who took the podium with a challenge: “We must stop treating marginalisation as an afterthought. The last must come first.” In his address on "The Role of Civil Society Advocacy and Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration for Inclusive Governance," Kuria called upon public institutions, civil society actors, and the private sector to centre Special Interest Groups (SIGs) — women, youth, persons with disabilities (PWDs), older persons, children, and minority groups — in policy formulation and budgetary allocations.

“The Constitution of Kenya 2010 already provides the framework,” he stated, referencing Article 21(3) and Article 27, “but it is our political and moral responsibility to breathe life into these rights.”

Kuria’s presentation underscored NGEC’s strategic approach to partnerships: build inclusive data systems, fund grassroots innovations, and create participatory policy spaces where SIGs are not mere subjects but active architects of their future.

As NGEC continues its audits, advisory reports, public forums, and compliance reviews, one message reverberates: Inclusion is not an option — it is a right. Public service must be agile, yes, but more importantly, it must be just.

Commissioner Nzomo Mbithuka during the 2025 Africa Public Service Day at the KICC