Mombasa County needs at least four Huduma Centres to ease pressure on the only existing facility and improve access to critical government services such as birth certificates and identification documents, officials say.
Huduma Centre Mombasa Manager Harrison Yogo said the current centre in Mvita is overstretched, serving an average of 2,400 people daily despite operating from a relatively small space.
“In Mombasa County, we currently have one centre, in Mvita. There’s an urgent need to have other three centres one in Likoni so that residents don’t have to cross over, the other in Kisauni and the last one in Jomvu or Changamwe,” Yogo said.
He noted that congestion is compounded by the fact that some services are only available at the Mombasa centre, forcing residents from neighbouring coastal counties to seek assistance there.
“We serve at least 2,400 people daily. That population is too large, considering there are people who come from other coastal counties too for services such as NTSA services, which are only available here,” he added.
The strain on service delivery is also raising concerns about voter preparedness ahead of the 2027 general election, as access to national identity cards and birth certificates remains a key requirement for voter registration. Delays and congestion at Huduma Centres could lock out eligible citizens, particularly young voters and first-time registrants, from the electoral process.
Yogo said outreach programmes under Huduma Mashinani have helped bridge the gap by taking services closer to residents who face transport, cost and accessibility challenges.
“Huduma Mashinani brings services closer to the people, and the people benefit a lot. They don’t have to come to town for the service,” he said.
He called on leaders, development partners and other stakeholders to support the expansion of Huduma Centres and scale up outreach programmes across the county.
“We organise Huduma Mashinani programmes by ourselves at least once every quarter, but we don’t have resources to organise ones of great magnitude, so we rely on partnerships with other organisations,” Yogo said.
The latest Huduma Mashinani exercise served 404 residents seeking services including birth certificate processing and registration.
“We had a Huduma Mashinani initiative in partnership with Lulu ya Jamii Foundation, serving 404 people, free of charge, fully sponsored by the foundation,” Yogo said.
Lulu ya Jamii Foundation Chief Executive Officer Lulu Hassan said the initiative was informed by congestion at the Mvita Huduma Centre and the need to bring services closer to residents.
“We realised that many residents struggle to access services because of congestion at the centre. That is why we decided to take the services to the people of Mvita,” she said.
