Government ministries and state agencies that provide various services to the public are meeting in Nakuru to fast-track the digitization of at least 5,000 services by June this year.
The gathering brings together 77 government-owned service providers, Safaricom and other major private firms that provide web-based payment platforms as the Government targets enhanced revenue collection by on-boarding more services to the e-Citizen digital system.
The Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Ports Authority, Communication Authority, National Cereals and Produce Board, National Environment Management Authority, Kenya National Library Services and the Kenya Airports authority are some of the main organisations expected to automate their services.
The Teachers Service Commission, the Judiciary and other key employers are also expected to make their services available online.
Immigration and Citizen Services PS Prof Julius Bitok on Monday officially opened the meeting, noting that the assembling of different players was meant to ensure the digitization drive was consultative and inclusive by factoring in unique concerns of different service providers.
“What we are aspiring for is to provide an integrated payment system that will make Government services faster, convenient and user-friendly. We want a pentagon system that takes care of everyone’s interest while also moving as fast as possible to implement what the public truly deserves,” he said.
The PS said the Government was on course to provide over 5000 services in compliance with a presidential directive.
“We are confident that by May, we will have majority of these services accessible online. We also hope to substantially raise the revenue generated from the services by enhancing convenience and therefore the uptake of the services.”
President William Ruto has asked state agencies to provide online services and committed his administration to a paperless delivery of essential services.
The Head of State in December said all 5,000 government services will be made accessible on the eCitizen platform for government digital payments this year.
Ruto stated that this will be done to ensure that the government increases revenue collection by 30% towards the targeted KES 3.2 trillion in revenue each year.
“We have sorted out all the challenges we had with eCitizen; by the end of next year, all 5,000 government services will be available on a digital platform. This is part of the program to ensure we are in a position to collect all taxes due to government,” Ruto said on December 2.
Referring to it as building the “digital superhighway”, Ruto said the move was to reduce costs so that Kenyans could work with the government from the comfort of their homes.
According to Ruto, the platform will host services like land tax payments, license renewals, and other remittances, while digital payments will eradicate fraud.
