The finding
Legal authority is not the same as practical control.
The six readings show how technology can leave a public body with formal authority but little practical control. That happens when it cannot replace a supplier, recover after an incident, inspect the evidence behind an automated act or finance the social consequences of economic change.
The publications do not provide a single blueprint for Kenya. Their evidence ranges from company case reports and strategic analysis to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) studies and a structured research review. Together, they identify the records, fallback routes and rights of challenge that a public body must retain when technology enters a public service.
Decision required
Before approval, document every critical external dependency
For any consequential digital service, the approving office should be able to identify the supplier chain, critical interfaces, lawful data basis, access to logs, recovery time, tested fallback, switching rights and the officer authorised to halt use. National standards must also state what counties are expected to operate, finance and recover under actual service conditions.
The same discipline belongs outside technology procurement. Fiscal planning needs to test how unstable earnings and labour-market change affect health and social protection. Education and public information systems need to treat evidence literacy as part of administrative resilience.