Evid Sibi | The Future Of Public Service Delivery In Africa: Positioning AI As A Core State Capability
Over the past decade, Kenya has demonstrated the governance impact of large-scale digital transformation,expanding digital public services from 10 to more than 20,000 and generating over USD 500 million annually in state revenue. This trajectory reflects a broader continental inflection point: artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the next foundational capability required to modernize public administration across Africa.
AI is now a structural component of 21st-century governance. Its integration is no longer optional for states seeking to improve service efficiency, expand inclusion, and meet the expectations of a predominantly young, digitally fluent population. More than half of Africans are Gen Z or Millennials, a demographic that increasingly expects government services to be instant, mobile-first, and accessible through intuitive digital channels. Legacy systems across the continent, often fragmented, manual, and decades old cannot meet this demand.
AI offers governments three core advantages.
First, AI can automate administrative functions at scale, reducing processing times, lowering operational costs, and enabling seamless service delivery across ministries and departments. Intelligent workflows and autonomous digital service points,whether at citizen service centers or via mobile interfaces,can significantly reduce dependency on physical interactions and manual approvals.
Second, AI enhances strategic governance through predictive analytics. Evidence-based budgeting, real-time expenditure monitoring, and early detection of fiscal leakages can strengthen policymaking and resource allocation. Given the substantial losses African governments face due to inefficiencies and weak oversight, AI-enabled analytics provide an opportunity to embed transparency and accountability into public finance systems.
Third, AI expands inclusivity. Multilingual conversational tools can support citizen engagement in linguistically diverse environments such as Kenya, which has more than 44 languages. Localized AI interfaces reduce the risks of misinformation, improve comprehension, and allow governments to reach constituencies traditionally excluded from formal digital systems.
AI also enables personalized delivery of public services such as proactive passport renewal notifications or life-event–based social services through secure and interoperable data systems. These capabilities align with global trends toward anticipatory governance.
The continent is developing the necessary infrastructure to support this transition. Kenya’s broadband expansion, growth in cloud and data-storage capacity, and increased utilization of undersea bandwidth indicate meaningful progress. Such foundations can position countries as regional hubs for responsible AI deployment, provided regulatory frameworks and institutional capacities develop in parallel.
A critical policy consideration, however, is the role of domestic innovation ecosystems. African governments continue to invest heavily in foreign legacy technologies, often overlooking established local firms with demonstrated capability and contextual understanding. Prioritizing partnerships with local innovators supports digital sovereignty, strengthens institutional resilience, enables faster iteration aligned with national priorities, and generates local intellectual property and employment. The scale and stability of platforms such as eCitizen illustrate that African-built digital public infrastructure can achieve secure, high-performance implementation.
The integration of AI into African governance frameworks will ultimately depend on coherent policy, cross-sector collaboration, and long-term investment in local capabilities. Countries that institutionalize AI as a public-sector competency—rather than as a standalone technology project—will be best positioned to deliver the next generation of citizen-centric, transparent, and resilient public services.
Evid Sibi is the Director and Chief Product Officer ECS LLP.
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