Government officials on radar for diverting eCitizen revenue
Principal Secretary for Immigration and Citizen Services, Julius Bitok addressing journalists at Serena Hotel, Nairobi on October 26, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The recent data from the Treasury revealed a steady rise of revenue collected on eCitizen after President’s directives.
- Last month, Sh4, 664 billion was collected from Sh1.44 billion collected in June, while in July Sh2.36 billion was collected.
The government has warned the top executives of state-owned agencies that they risk losing their jobs if they are found to be diverting revenue from eCitizen platform.
Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said that government will take action after a discovery that there is a huge gap between the revenue being collected and that which was posted on the online platform.
“The revenues have gone up from around 60m per day to around 250-300M per day. But the story is not consistent with what the government wants. We have realized that we have a higher potential than that,” Bitok said on Tuesday.
According to the PS, analyses of potential revenue from the over 11,000 services on eCitizen against declared amounts pointed to diversion of collected money.
“We are having conversations with the Central Bank and the banks. We have noted clearly that there are agencies who have decided to cheat the system and pay cash.”
The PS said that the variation is being caused by continuous payments of services in cash, which is against the directive that was issued by President William Ruto that all online payments for government services should be done through paybill number, which is 222222.
He also revealed that the preliminary investigations indicated that funds paid in cash were being banked in accounts that were not linked to eCitizen and warned of sanctions against those who will be found culpable.
“Let it not be you who will be found yourself not being able to comply and you have to explain and sometimes you may even have to lose your job because you’re not able to do what is supposed to be done.”
The PS made his remarks while addressing representatives of Ministries, Corporations, Departments and Agencies (MCDAs) at Mlolongo, Machakos County.
The recent data from the Treasury revealed a steady rise of revenue collected on eCitizen after President’s directives.
Last month, Sh4, 664 billion was collected from Sh1.44 billion collected in June. In July Sh2.36 billion was collected, Sh2.36 billion in August, and Sh3.636 billion in September.
“Where we are going now, if you don’t meet some of these things, there will be consequences. Some people will bear personal responsibilities for failure to do the right thing.”
