Kenya’s government has announced that all payments for state services will be made online through the eCitizen portal designed to enhance the process of their delivery.
“The government has developed the eCitizen Digital Payments Platform through which citizens and all other persons will be able to pay for government services,” said Njuguna Ndung’u, national treasury and planning cabinet secretary, as cited by local media.
According to the secretary, Kenyans can pay for government services using a single bill number. The eCitizen platform, which is “a wholly owned domain" and official portal of the government, is integrated with all electronic payment systems available in the country, including mobile money services. Once the transaction is made, a user gets a receipt generated by the system.
The unique identifier for the country's citizens is their national identity card, while foreigners use an alien identity card. As for entities, companies and institutions, the identifier is their registration number.
The eCitizen platform provides a range of state services that cover such areas as driving, marriage, business, immigration, land ownership, taxes, and civil registration services. Kenyans can, for example, apply for business name registration, birth and death registrations, issuance of a marriage certificate and many more things via the portal.
By promoting the use of digital payment platform, the government is seeking to raise revenue collection and minimize its costs. It is also expected to improve service delivery.
The announcement comes as part of President Ruto's plan to ensure that all government services are digitized within the next six to twelve months. During his visit to Washington DC this month, he told the media that his administration wants "to help Kenyans get services at their comfort zone.”
"To ensure that Kenyans are getting better government services, we will ensure that 5,000 government services are accessible online in a period of six months. This will help solve the issues of Kenyans making very long queues to be served,” he said.
The president repeatedly highlighted the government's commitment to boost digitalization in the country. In particular, speaking during the Jamhuri Day celebrations in Nairobi, which were themed “Connect, Innovate and Inspire,” Ruto stated that the government is going to install 100,000 km of digital highway in the form of fibreoptic cables to extend internet access to every part of the country. He also noted that the government is set to create one million jobs from "technology space."
"It is important that all of us understand the importance of technology and the place of innovation going into the future,” he underlined.