A REPORT SUBMITTED ON INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT AT
THE COUNTY COUNCIL GOVERNMENT OF NAIROBI- CITY HALL
TO MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR
THE AWARD OF DEGREE IN BACHELOR OF BUSINESS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
BY
NAMBUBI JOHN OBUYA
BBIT/2019/44169
ATTACHMENT PERIOD: 25TH OCTOBER 2021 – 20TH
JANUARY 2022
PREFACE
I was privileged to secure an attachment at the County Council Government of Nairobi- City
Hall. The attachment was for a duration of 3 months from 25th October 2021 to 20th January
2022. I got to learn new things in the place of work and more importantly I was able to put into
practice what I had been learning in class. I was given different duties and responsibilities to
perform in various departments. Some of these tasks were easily learned and others were
challenging but at the end, I had different experiences. Working gave me a chance to interact
with various people and to perform different tasks which enabled me to acquire new knowledge
and skills in the work environment. In this period of my attachment, I was able to acquire
experience and practical skills that will help me in the job market currently and in future. The
whole process was not easy but I tackled all the challenges involved in carrying out the duties
and responsibilities that I was assigned and at the end, my attachment was a success.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank God for giving me strength and good health throughout my attachment
period. His love and inspiration have always guided me in carrying out my duties and
responsibilities throughout the attachment period. I am also grateful to Mount Kenya University
academic staff for the knowledge and support I got from them which has made my attachment a
success. I am also grateful to the management and the rest of the staff at City Hall for the support
they gave and also for giving me the chance to undertake my attachment in their company. I also
extend my gratitude to various supervisors at work who supervised and taught me new skills. I
acquired new knowledge and practical skills from them. Finally let me thank my family and
friends for the financial support they gave me throughout my attachment period.
Thank you all.
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Table of Contents
PREFACE
............................................................................................................................................................. I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................................................... ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1
Background information on Institution ....................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Expectations from the Attachment ................................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER TWO: DESCRPTION OF THE ATTACHMENT ESTABLISHMENT .................................................................. 2
2.3 Departments and their Functions .................................................................................................................. 4
2.4
Organizational Structure ............................................................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER THREE: ACTUAL WORK CARRIED OUT..................................................................................................... 6
3.1.1 Accounts Department ................................................................................................................................. 7
3.1.2 Audit Department ....................................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 Skills and Competencies Gained ........................................................................................................................ 9
CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................... 11
4.1 Summary .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
4.2 Problems Encountered .................................................................................................................................... 12
4.3 Recommendation ............................................................................................................................................ 14
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Management Structure of NHIF………………………………………………5
Figure 2: Management Structure of NHIF (Branch Level)………………………...…… 6
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background information on Institution
The Nairobi City County is the creation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and successor of the
defunct City Council of Nairobi. It operates under the auspices of the Cities and Urban Areas
Act, The Devolved Governments Act and a host of other Acts. The Nairobi City County is
charged with the responsibility of providing a variety of services to residents within its area of
jurisdiction. These include the services that were hitherto provided by the defunct City Council
and the ones that have been transferred from the national government.
1.2 Expectations from the Attachment
The benefits I expect to acquire at the end of this industrial attachment include;
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To be exposed to demand and challenges of the work place.
Gain practical experience.
Gain work ethics
Contribute to local industry.
Develop work-based skills.
Establish industry networks and contacts.
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CHAPTER TWO: DESCRPTION OF THE ATTACHMENT ESTABLISHMENT
2.1 Location and Brief History
In 1963 after Kenya achieved independence, the Nairobi Urban District Council, NUDC or
simply UDC, became the City Council of Nairobi (CCN).2 The Council was created by an act of
Parliament, Cap 265 of the Laws of Kenya to provide services to residents of the city. Among
other functions, the City Council was responsible for the provision of essential services like
water, sewer and public safety. The City Council of Nairobi was the local authority governing
the city of Nairobi, Kenya. It was the largest of the 175 local Authorities in the country and was
under direction of the Ministry of Local Government.
The Chief Executive of the City Council was the Town Clerk and was appointed by the Minister
of Local Government. The Non-executive branch of the Council was headed by the mayor. The
Town Clerk oversaw the functions of 17 main and 4 sub committees whose members were City
Councilors. Each committee is chaired by one Councilor. The committees meet at scheduled
meetings and adopt proposals by consensus. The proposals then pass through a full Council for
review. Proposals could only be approved as Council Resolutions by the Minister for Local
Government having been reviewed by the full Council.
The main offices of the Nairobi City Council were located at City Hall Plaza on City Hall Way.
City Hall was constructed in the 1950s. At that time, it was the tallest building in Nairobi with its
clock tower standing at 165 ft high. The building was expanded in 1981 with the addition of the
13 storey City Hall Annex.
2.2 Objectives of NCC
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The Fund's core mandate is to provide medical insurance cover to all its members and their
declared dependents (spouse and children) and the execution of this mandate is achieved
through:-
1) To effectively and efficiently register members, collect contributions and pay out
benefits.
2) To regulate the contributions payable to the Fund and the benefits and other payments to
be made out of the Fund.
3) To enhance and ensure adherence and conformity to international standards in quality
service delivery.
4) To ensure prudent management of resources.
5) To contract service providers and provide access to health services.
To protect the interests of contributors to the Fund
1) To effectively and efficiently register members, collect contributions and pay out
benefits.
2) To enhance the Fund’s quality management system.
3) To prudently manage resources.
4) To develop and maintain strong customer relationships.
5) To develop and retain relevant competencies.
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2.3 Departments and their Functions
NCC has Thirteen Departments each headed by a County Executive. The following are the
Departments: 1) Lands, Urban planning, Urban renewal, Housing and Projects Management
2) Devolution, Public Service and Administration
3) Finance and Economic Planning
4) Security and Compliance Sub Sector
5) Education, Youth and Social Services
6) Health Services
7) Environment Energy Water and sanitation
8) Food, agriculture and Forestry
9) Commerce, Tourism and Co-operatives
10) Roads, Public Works and Transport.
11) Public Service Management (PSM)
12) Information Communication Technology & e- Government
13) Lands, Urban planning, Urban renewal, Housing and Projects Management
2.4
Organizational Structure
The Nairobi City County, in execution of responsibilities and functions bestowed upon it, has
been divided into three arms as follows:
1) The Executive led by The Governor.
2) The Legislative Arm or the County Assembly headed by The Speaker.
3) County Public Service Board- Led by The Chairman supported by various committee
members.
The following Chart is the Management Structure of NHIF.
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Board of Directors
Chief Executive Officer
General Managers
Branch Managers
Divisional Managers
Figure 1
The chart below illustrates the management structure of the NHIF (Branch level).
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Branch Manager
Deputy Branch Manager
Sectional Supervisors
Figure 2
CHAPTER THREE: ACTUAL WORK CARRIED OUT
3.1 Summary of Activities
The following were the main activities I was exposed to: 1) Receiving claimants, conducting initial assessment and offering advice on procedural
requirements to duly filled claim forms.
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2) Receiving claims from hospitals and ensuring they have relevant documentation.
3) Capturing the data into the system which involves: a) Receiving the claims in the system.
b) Accepting and authorizing the received hospital claims to proceed with the
payment process.
c) Check the data captured into the system to verify whether it tallies with the
information contained in the claim form.
4) Responding to general telephone enquiries about the claim payment procedure.
5) Assessment checklist for Accreditation of health facilities using excel. This entails: a) Capturing questionnaire data into the system for analysis and decision making.
b) Preparing summary reports on proposals for evaluation.
c) Submit the result to the Senior Benefits Officer for approval.
3.1.1 Accounts Department
The following are the main duties I was subjected to during the period I was attached at the
accounts department.
1) Check of the claims and approving them for payment to be settled.
2) Verifying and validating that the data captured in the system and the information
provided in the claim form tallies.
3) Verify that the claim document has all the relevant supportive documents required for the
claim to be processed. All the claims presented from the hospitals should have the ID
card of the member and the patient’s ID card for a spouse or a birth certificate in case of a
child less than 18 years.
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4) Check and verify that the member’s premium payment is up to date and is fully covered
by NHIF. This involves verifying that the member has not defaulted the monthly
premium payment and/ or the penalty is paid for late monthly upload before the claim is
paid.
5) Printing of invoice cheque for the fully processed hospital claim for payment to be
settled.
3.1.2 Audit Department
The Audit Department is the last stage where the Hospital Claims are thoroughly checked and
approved to ensure there is no error made on the claims just about to be settled. There might be
an unnoticed error that may have passed all the other previous stages unrealized. In case of such
an instance the claim is taken back to the right stage and rectified before is fully processed for
settlement. If incorrect information is given in the claim document the payment for the claim
cannot be processed and is taken back to the hospital for correction. The following are the duties
I was assigned: - To get the contact information of the members who received services from
hospitals in order to later verify that the information given in the claim document coincides with
the data captured in the system.
3.1.3 Registration Section.
This section is responsible for registration of members. The membership is open to all persons
regardless of age or gender. NHIF registers all eligible members from both the formal and
informal sector. For those in the formal sector, it is compulsory to be a member. For those in the
informal sector and retirees, membership is open and voluntary. To register with NHIF as a
member or an employer or organized group, one fills in the relevant Registration Form.
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3.1.4 Photo Merging.
The operation department is a busy environment where the staff members freely interact with the
members of NHIF. All the member data entry and the management of the member information is
done under this department. The following are the main duties and tasks I was assigned to: -
1) Registration of new members.
2) Capture of the new members’ spouse and children into the system.
3) Scanning, merging, printing cards and photo card dispatch.
4) Capture member choice of the Out-patient medical facility into the system.
5) Filing of the members’ forms into the system and later stored in files for quick and easy
access while needed.
6) Customer care services and procedures.
3.2 Skills and Competencies Gained
NHIF has exposed and provided the relevant job experience by giving me a platform through
which I can put the theoretical knowledge gain in school to practice in the field. During my
attachment duration, I was assigned various tasks and duties and I thoroughly did them to the
satisfaction of my supervisor. I was able to acquire the following skills and competencies in
various departments attached.
1) Learnt and understood the hospital claims settlement process and procedures. It is a
critical activity which requires a high level of accuracy at all stages.
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2) Embracing teamwork and cooperation in serving the customer. In order to accomplish the
corporation, set goals, all the staff must work as a team for the success of any
organization. I effectively and efficiently collaborated with my supervisor and other staff
members to accomplish the organization set goals.
3) Ethical practice and good code of conduct. Throughout the duration of attachment, I
maintained high ethical standards and good code of conduct through: a) Commitment in undertaking the assigned tasks.
b) Observing the hours of duty.
c) Proper and efficient discharge of duties.
d) Observing the right dress code.
e) High professionalism and competence.
f) Excellence work attendance.
g) Observing safety measures.
4) Honesty and Integrity. Sometimes it is very hard to tell clients what they don’t expect.
Being honest and maintaining integrity while still giving confidence to the client that this
is the best policy is something that I constantly observed. I have mastered the art of
honesty and integrity to the best practice in serving the customers and hit the organization
expectations and trust bestowed upon me.
5) Excellent Public relation skills. By interacting with people drawn from all walks of life,
I was able to acquire public relation skills and managed to handle issues professionally. I
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have interacted efficiently and effectively with both the staff members and the clients by
offering my services to their maximum satisfaction. I raised the Company’s reputation to
the clients and anyone who called the office for assistance, clarification or inquiry.
6) Technical skills. After being taught various tasks, I was able to possess the knowledge,
understanding and expertise required to carry out assigned work effectively. Through
these, I was able to save the organization time and money as I worked as an extra staff.
CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 Summary
Industrial attachment is very important to a student in any field of study as it enables one to apply
the skills learned in class to real-life work experience. During my entire duration of attachment at
NHIF - Buru Buru Branch, it was a wonderful experience versed with a diverse area of scope. It
is an excellent way to interact with other officers in various capacities and it further equipped me
with various skills, for instance, good interpersonal relations, upholding the spirit of teamwork
and gaining core competencies in my area of study.
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All the roles and responsibilities that were assigned to me during the attachment period were
relevant to my area of study. The whole experience was educative and from what I learned and
the skills acquired, I know I can confidently face the job market.
4.2 Problems Encountered
1) System failure.
Sometimes customer stayed long and others went unattended when the system failed. The system
failure attracted complains from the clients for taking a long time waiting for services. The
system failure had been brought by an upgrade of the whole system inter-connection, but the
problem was fixed with time and things run as usual.
2) Slow system and computers.
Slow system and computer sometimes could create long queues when customers flocked in
seeking services. Some of the computers used were old and slow whereby they hung and gave a
slow response to the command given. The NHIF system is interconnected via an internet
connection. Despite the fact there are many operations at NHIF are computerized and relying on
the network, the connection is slow and thus reducing the efficiency. Time is wasted waiting
while requests are being processed.
3) Choice of outpatient medical facilities.
Wrongful capture of some members’ choice of outpatient medical facility. Some members came
with complaints after attending their preferred hospitals that they were given the wrong choice of
their outpatient medical facility. Short duration given for the change of the medical facility
seemed inadequate for many members had not changed to their preferred choice at the date of
closure.
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4) Mobile Money
To facilitate timely remittance of member contributions and maintenance of up to date payment
information for individual accounts, NHIF has partnered with Safaricom to provide a flexible
and convenient platform for remittance of monthly insurance premium contributions from
informal sector populations. There were challenges and delays in integrating the M Pesa
payment platform with the NHIF payment and information technology system. Some
beneficiaries would arrive at health facilities to learn that they could not access services because
contributions were not being reflected in membership accounts promptly.
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4.3 Recommendation
From the analysis and observations, I made during the attachment period, I would like to
recommend the following to the NHIF management.
1) Constantly check the system to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. In case there is system
upgrade, there should be proper communication to all stakeholders notifying them of the
changes being undertaken. The right measures should be set in place to ensure that daily
operations are not affected by system changes.
2) Computer servicing and maintenance should constantly be done to solve the problem of slow
system and computers. Also, the management should deploy an IT technician at the Branch
level who can be fixing most of the internet connection problems and system maintenance.
3) The duration of the change of outpatient medical facility should be adequate and effectively
communicated and ensure all members are aware.
4) The members should refrain use of mobile money when an immediate update of the payment
made is required and use the alternative payment via the bank accounts. NHIF should
collaborate with Safaricom agency and ensure the delay problem is fixed and also it should
take good consideration in future when introducing new payment platforms.
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STATION SUPERVISOR’S REPORT
NAME OF SUPERVISOR……………………………….. SIGN……………………
DESIGNATION…………………………………………... DATE………………….
Official Stamp
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