Cabinet gives state agencies, departments three days to close unofficial pay bill numbers
President William Ruto during the launch of e-Citizen services, GavaMkononi app and Gava Express at KICC in Nairobi on June 30. Cabinet has ordered the closure of all existing pay bill numbers and the migration of government services to the e-citizen platform.
Cabinet has directed all government ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that all payments for government services are made through the Pay Bill number 222222 from August 8.
It has also ordered the closure of all existing pay bill numbers and the migration of government services to the e-citizen platform by August 11 and September 30, respectively.
The implementation follows a recent directive by President William Ruto to digitise government services. In a notice published in the Kenya Gazette, the National Treasury also directed that the e-Citizen platform will serve as the digital payment platform for government services, and that the Pay Bill number 222222 will be the government's single payment platform.
The Cabinet has also directed that ministries, state departments and agencies report back to the Cabinet by 5pm on 8 August on whether they have complied or not.
Those that have not complied will be required to identify the payment systems they use, whether they are still active or have been deactivated, the reason for non-activation and a plan to comply with the directive.
At the same time, they will also have to submit a report to the Cabinet by 11 August detailing the services they have selected for inclusion on the e-citizen platform. This report will include details on the status of the onboarding, where officials will state which services have been on boarded, which are in progress and which are yet to be launched.
They will also explain the reasons for the delay and what they will do to ensure that the requirements are met.
About a month ago, the President announced the digitisation of over 5,000 government services to "eliminate inefficiency, corruption, waste and discrimination inherent in human interactions". Digitisation, the President said, will also ensure that previously marginalised communities have easy access to government services.
The services will be available to Kenyans through the USSD code *2222# and Gava Express, which will serve those who do not own smartphones. The services can then be paid for using the Pay Bill number 222222.
