Revenue generated from Kenya’s online government services portal eCitizen surged 300 percent over the past three months surging from KES 1.4 billion in June to KES 4.2 billion in September.
The spike came after a decree in June from President William Ruto requiring all government services to be made available through the eCitizen digital platform.
Ruto said the move was aimed at “enhancing accessibility, improving service delivery, and significantly augmenting revenue collection across all agencies.”
According to Julius Bitok, principal secretary in the Ministry of Immigration and Citizen Services, over 10,500 services have been fully integrated into eCitizen following the president’s order, with thousands more still in progress.
“The president’s push to digitize services has allowed Kenyans to access critical resources online that previously required in-person visits or paperwork,” Bitok said. “As more citizens take advantage of the convenience of eCitizen, we have seen government revenue grow exponentially each month.”
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Bitok reported that monthly revenue from eCitizen was KES 2.3 billion in July and KES 3.6 billion in August. He projects full integration of all remaining services by year’s end.
“This has been a massive undertaking, but the results speak for themselves,” Bitok said. “Kenyans can now obtain permits, licenses, certificates and more with just a few clicks, all while boosting government coffers.”
In an effort to consolidate government revenue channels, President William Ruto in August directed all agencies to close their individual Paybill numbers and instead transition to a single centralized payment platform.
According to the president’s order, the goal is for all government services fees to be processed through the unified Paybill 222222 so that the Treasury can have full oversight of every transaction across agencies.
Ruto said funneling all payments through one portal will provide the Treasury with greater ability to monitor, account for and forecast revenues from government services. The president called the move a key step toward increasing transparency and accountability in public financial management.
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