Government Digital Payments (eCitizen)

The Government Digital Payments Unit is mandated to digitize all payments into Government, to increase revenue collection, minimize the cost of collection and enhance service delivery. It ensures that Citizens, non-Citizens and Business entities can access Government Services online and make Payments electronically and conveniently, using their preferred method of payment, 24 hours a day and from wherever they may be in the world.

By April 2013, only a few government services were partially digitized and most receipts by the government were manual. A survey done then found that over a third of the payments were cash-based, presenting a high opportunity for leakage and abuse of the system, in addition to high cost of collection.

To address these loopholes, His Excellency The President issued a directive in November 2013 that all payments into government be digitized. This culminated in the formation of a cabinet committee chaired by His Excellency The Deputy President and thereafter Government Digital Payments Taskforce and the Taskforce Secretariat was established vide Gazette Notice No. 2725 of April 24, 2014.

The eCitizen portal, www.ecitizen.go.ke was subsequently developed as a payment gateway and integrated with electronic payment platforms including mobile telephone money payment services. The portal was entrenched in a Gazette Notice No. 9290 of 30^th December 2014 and the mandate of the Taskforce later enhanced through Gazette Notice No. 3299 of 13^th May 2015. On the 12^th January 2018, the Unit was moved from the Presidency to the National Treasury under the Directorate of Accounting Services and Quality Assurance and reports to a Steering Committee chaired by the PS/National Treasury created through Gazette Notice No. 400 of the same date.

GDP Unit (eCitizen) falls under Key Result Area 2 of NT’s Strategic Plan, the Medium Term Plan III, and is one of the Government’s Digital Finance Flagship Projects. Other than providing resource mobilization for Government and enhancing service delivery to Kenyans, eCitizen is a facilitator in providing an open (eKYC), digitized financial system, powering a digitally driven and inclusive economy. NT’s MTPIII (2018-2022) recommends that ‘All P2G and B2G payments be digital’ and has tasked the Unit with its implementation. The eCitizen programme cuts across the Social and Economic Pillar of the Vision 2030, and is linked directly to Technology and Innovation as well as Public Sector Reforms, which are some of the principles of the Vision.

As part of the PFMRs reforms, the Goverment Digital Payments Unit is being facilitated on three areas; i) On-boarding of new Services on the Portal. ii) Re-engineering of the Portal for easy of navigation and iii) Sensitization and training of MCDAs who are using the platform for better use and an indept understanding of the system.

Click here to visit the eCitizen portal www.ecitizen.go.ke