Lawmakers clash over payment of school fees on eCitizen

The two, who appeared on Citizen TV's Day Break show on Thursday, differed on whether the directive has met the required threshold to be rolled out.

MP Hasan defended the move, arguing that it will help cure the burden parents (particularly those residing in rural areas) face of covering long distances to make physical payments to either banks or schools.

He opined that the digital migration will provide a one-stop-shop for making school fee payments.

"We are a state that is modernised everybody is in MPesa there is no Kenyan adult who does not have an MPesa. We have a free market system where you can convert your maize into cash put it on MPesa and pay the school fees rather than lining up and going to school wasting a lot of time," said Hasan. 

"Why would you want to go to a school 5 or 10 kilometers away when you can use your MPesa or your phone to be able to perform those [payments]."

Maanzo interjected arguing that the directive to pay fees through eCitizen platform is bound to fail since it lacks genuine structures on how it will operate.

In Maanzo's view, there should have been rigorous public participation before implementing the move.

"If we would have done a proper public participation then we would have gotten proper feedback from many brilliant people and we would have known the best way to run this," he said.

"If I were a parent in a rural setup I would still pay fees cash... if you pay through this platform and the fee is not picked by the school your child will still be sent away."

The Senator went on to claim that the platform will be used as a cash cow for "cartels" who will loot the funds.

"These are cartels. What is supposed to happen is that the government is supposed to pick part of your money out of this, there is a charge. These are adhoc cartels who want to loot Kenyans with the blessing of the President," argued Maanzo.

The High Court in Nairobi temporarily halted the directive on Wednesday following a petition filed by Nakuru doctor Magare Gikenyi on Tuesday.

Dr. Gikenyi, a consultant trauma and general surgeon working for the county government of Nakuru, moved to court to challenge the initiative which he termed as illegal, arguing that it violated the principles of good governance.

Milimani Law Courts Judge Chacha Mwita suspended the circular by Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang pending further directions to be issued in the case on February 13, 2024.

A memo to all national school principals dated January 31, 2024 and signed by PS Kipsang directed institution heads to share school bank account details with the office of the State Department's Director General by Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

This, the PS said, was part of the government’s efforts to onboard all government services onto the e-Citizen platform to enhance service delivery.

This came on the backdrop of a directive given by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof. Njuguna Ndung'u that all government services would be onboarded on the eCitizen platform and every service will have access fees effective December 14, 2023.