By Mandere Onyinkwa
The Office of the Auditor-General, in a document presented to Parliament, determined that while eCitizen has made accessing government services easier, it is compromised by inadequate supervision, persistent vendor control, and dubious financial management.
The report indicates that the platform originated from a World Bank-IFC initiative in 2013 and was later transferred to the National Treasury in 2017.
However, following this transfer, ownership and control somehow returned to the private vendor, Webmasters Kenya Ltd, before being transferred back again in 2023.
“It was not clarified how the ownership and control of the eCitizen Platform came under the vendor’s possession after it had been handed over to The National Treasury by IFC in 2017,” the audit noted.
This persistent reliance on the vendor, the report warns, creates a “single point of failure” for a system now processing billions of shillings in public revenue.
The Auditor-General emphasized the absence of a legal framework to support the platform, noting that the last steering committee’s term concluded in 2021 without producing regulations.
“Without a legal framework, the Government Digital Payment Platform faces risks of non-compliance, potentially causing legal disputes and eroding public trust,” the report cautioned.
The unclear governance structure has also resulted in responsibilities being divided among the National Treasury, the Directorate of eCitizen Services, and the ICT Authority, leading to inefficiencies and vulnerabilities.
Security and privacy concerns were raised, with auditors denied complete access to evaluate IT controls. Nevertheless, system logs revealed weaknesses that could jeopardize the confidentiality and integrity of citizen data.
Business continuity was also inadequate, with previous downtime incidents highlighting the risks of inadequate contingency planning.
Funds collected through eCitizen took approximately eight days to reach ministries and counties due to manual settlement processes, disrupting cash flows.
As of June 2024, Ksh.2.57 billion in receipts could not be linked to invoices, raising concerns about fraud and misappropriation.
Payments totaling Ksh.492 million and USD 414,299 were made to a company not included in the official maintenance contract, exposing the government to potential legal challenges.
More concerning, bank statements showed Ksh.68.7 million and USD 48.1 million collected through an unauthorized account named ‘Pesaflow’, while four transactions from the official Paybill 222222 were directed to private entities in January 2024.
Manual Reconciliation
While the platform was intended to enhance efficiency, ministries and counties now face increased workloads, manually reconciling reports and dealing with errors.
Settlement reports have been inconsistent, with discrepancies amounting to hundreds of millions.
For example, the Tourism Fund’s records displayed a variance of Ksh.515 million between eCitizen reports and actual remittances.
Low-cost products and services have become uncompetitive, with a 20-shilling item incurring a Ksh.50 fee – a 250 percent price increase.
In healthcare, patients are charged at each service point, disproportionately affecting low-income families.
“This contradicts the government’s objective to enhance healthcare quality and affordability as outlined in the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA),” the report noted.
The Auditor-General’s recommendations are explicit: establish a legal framework, create a unified governance structure, develop standard operating procedures, sign service level agreements with financial providers, automate settlement processes, and review the convenience fee structure.
Most importantly, the government must gain complete control of the platform from vendors to protect public funds.
In her foreword, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu underscored the urgency for reform: “Irregularities in revenue collection and processing undermine transparency and accountability, possibly resulting in revenue losses.”
“These findings highlight the immediate necessity for reforms to strengthen the system’s effectiveness and secure public funds.”