African postal services are under obligation to modernise and diversify or succumb to competition from the private investors, Kenya’s assistant Minister for Information and Communication, Koigi Wamwere, said here Monday July 16th.
Koigi was speaking where he presided over the opening of the 25th Ordinary Session of the Administration Council of Pan-African Postal Union taking place here.
The minister said the largely inefficient postal organisations should take advantage of their networks, which have a wider reach, to roll out products based on modern technology in the telecommunications industry.
He told the postal service providers to change their business culture to repulse the onslaught mounted by private postal services providers.
“Unless there is a new approach that places emphasis on the consumer, who should be at the core of our services, we shall continue to frustrate our customers who will in the long run abandon us as they turn to the private service providers for efficiency,” Koigi said.
“If we change our business attitudes, we should be able to attract more customers and invest more in infrastructure development,” Koigi, who spoke in Kenya’s national language, Kiswahili, said.
However, Kenya Postal Corporation postmaster-general Fred Odhiambo welcomed increased competition, saying the beneficiary would be the consumer.
Odhiambo said increased private service providers on the continent were a boon to the consumers who were reaping the fruits of modern technology and efficient services.
