Heads of 17 State agencies among them KRA, Kenya Power, summoned for failing to comply with eCitizen payments directive

The Government has summoned the management of 17 state-run agencies, among them KRA and Kenya Power to explain their failure to comply with President William Ruto's directive on payments of services through eCitizen.

The Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau, who chairs the eCitizen Implementation Committee said Principal Secretaries (PS) for State Departments under which the agencies fall, CEOs and Board chairpersons have been summoned for a meeting on Tuesday, November 14.

Other agencies among the 17 include; the Kenya National Examination Council, National Hospital Insurance Fund, Higher Education Loans Board, the Hustler Fund and the Agricultural Finance Corporation.

The Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya Bureau of Standards, Kenya Ports Authority, National Cereals and Produce Board, National Aids Control Council, the Mathari Referral and Teaching Hospital, Kenya Railways Corporation, Kenya Ferry Services Limited, Kenya National Trading Corporation and the Kenya School of Government have also been summoned.

Addressing officials from various state agencies in Syokimau, Machakos County on Wednesday, Wanjau noted that the summons followed a comply-or-explain letter that she had issued on August 4.

“Following conversations that have happened, these state corporations have been invited for a meeting on Tuesday at 9 am and this meeting is to be attended by the CEO, the Chair of the board and the PS who is the accounting officer,” she said.

She further stated that although the agencies had initially been granted a temporary exemption from closing their PayBill numbers and channeling all payments to 222222 on account of their unique services, they were still bound by the December 31 deadline.

“The exemption was on the premise that indeed you need time but you still must remain on the pathway for digitisation without fracturing your services,” said Wanjau.

On June 30th, during the unveiling of government services on eCitizen, President Ruto directed all State agencies to migrate their services online and to use 222222 as the official PayBill by December 31, 2023.

The Secretary to the Cabinet accused some of the agencies of frustrating revenue collection and transparency that were intended by the directive by maintaining separate bank accounts and advertising unofficial payment channels.

“If you want to use 222222 but meanwhile encourage payments to alternative platforms, what are you saying?” she posed.

Wanjau's directive comes just a day after Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Bitok warned top executives of state-owned agencies that they risk losing their jobs for failing to declare all revenues collected on the eCitizen platform.

Addressing representatives of Ministries, Corporations, Departments and Agencies (MCDAs) at Mlolongo, Machakos County on Tuesday, the PS said an analysis of potential revenue from the over 11,000 services on eCitizen against declared amounts pointed to diversion of collected money.

He attributed the discrepancy to cash payments for services against President Ruto's directive to process all online payments for government services through the PayBill, 222222.