The High Court has certified as urgent a case challenging President William Ruto's directive for all payments for government services be made through a single M-Pesa account
Milimani High Court judge Lady Justice Hedwig Ong'undi certified the case filed by two petitioners, Benard Odero Okello and Fredrick Ogola, challenging the President's new directive as unconstitutional.
In certifying the case, Justice Ong'udi directed the petitioners to serve the Attorney General, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of ICT.
The Attorney General's Chambers, the National Treasury and the Ministry of ICT were ordered to respond to the case by August 29, 2023.
In the case, Okello and Prof Ogola contend that President Ruto's unilateral and arbitrary directive to shut down all government digital payments to allow all government services, national and county, to be on a single digital payments platform is contrary to the Public Finance Management Act.
Dr Ruto’s directive is set to take effect from September 30, 2023.
Prof Ogola claims that there is no framework in place to manage the proposed single digital payment platform, and that there was no public participation in the formulation of the single digital payment platform.
"The centralisation of all national and county government payments into a single payment is contrary to the spirit of devolution as it does not promote the distinctiveness of national and county governments," he claims in court papers.
The petitioner says that apart from the illegality in the whole matter, he is concerned that the President is the provider of the platform where these payments are made, hence it is for personal benefit just like other platforms like the Hustler Fund.
Ogola is asking the court to declare that the directive to on-board government services to a single digital payment platform of Paybill Number 222222 on eCitizen.go.ke, as communicated in the Gazette Vol. CXXIV-No. 287 Gazette Notice No. 16008 and published on 30 December 2022 without public participation, is in breach of Article 201(a) read in conjunction with Article 10(1), 2(a) and is therefore unlawful and unconstitutional.
"A declaration that the directive to on-board government services to a single digital payment platform of Paybill Number 222222 on eCitizen.go.ke as communicated in Gazette Vol. CXXIV-No. 287 Gazette Notice No. 16008 and published on 30 December 2022 in the absence of an administrative framework is in violation of Article 201 (a) of the Constitution read together with Section 29(1) of the Public Finance Act," he says in the documents.
Prof Ogola adds that he is also concerned about the 237 businesses that will close and the 74,237 jobs that will be lost in these hard economic times, as other payment gateways close in favour of Dr Ruto’s payment gateway.
