NAIROBI, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Over 1,200 delegates representing more than 20 countries, the United Nations, the diplomatic corps, and civil society gathered in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Wednesday for the opening of a three-day Global Trust Summit aimed at rebuilding public confidence in governance.
Felix Koskei, Kenya's chief of staff and head of the public service, emphasized the need for stronger regional collaboration to help regulators across Africa harmonize their approaches, tackle shared challenges, and deliver improved outcomes for citizens and businesses alike.
"These interactions should continue through regular virtual engagements, regional roundtables, technical working groups, and periodic in-person exchanges to produce good service to the populations," Koskei said.
Koskei urged African governments to forge structured partnerships with the international community, adopt innovative regulatory frameworks, access global best practices, and accelerate digital transformation.
True digital transformation involves fundamentally rethinking public service delivery rather than merely moving paperwork onto a screen, he noted, adding that optimized digital systems simplify administrative processes, improve accessibility, enhance traceability, and minimize delays, errors, and opportunities for corruption.
The Kenyan official stressed that robust digital systems can better interconnect African nations in managing financial flows, supply chains, professional standards, and environmental risks, while enabling institutions with advanced technical capacity to support peer nations across the continent.
"Technology should be applied to enable institutions with greater experience or capacity to support those seeking to strengthen their systems, while ensuring that lessons are adapted to local circumstances rather than copied without thought," Koskei said.
Monica Brezzi, deputy director for statistics and data directorate at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), emphasized that no government can successfully build public trust in isolation.
Public trust is earned through institutions that reliably deliver essential services, empower citizens, act impartially, and prepare proactively for the future, Brezzi noted.
She observed that governments worldwide face mounting pressure from geopolitical tensions, ongoing cost-of-living challenges, environmental risks, and rapid advances in artificial intelligence, coupled with rising public demands to accelerate development and generate quality employment.
Citing data from the 2026 OECD trust survey, Brezzi noted that 40 percent of people report high or moderately high trust in their national governments, while 43 percent report low or no trust, a trend mirrored by Afrobarometer findings across African nations.
Brezzi added that the OECD survey has expanded to cover 42 countries and expressed hope that Kenya and other African nations will soon join as equal partners.
Kenyan Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court Martha Koome highlighted the judiciary's ongoing modernization, noting that the integration of virtual hearings and electronic filing systems has reduced unnecessary travel, improved access to information, and enhanced institutional transparency. ■