Why Kenyans Pay Sh50 Convenience Fee On e-Citizen, Owner Reveals

In August of last year, the government initiated the consolidation of payment for all its services through eCitizen, its centralized online portal for accessing various State services, under a single Paybill number.

President William Ruto at the time ordered the closure of all existing government PayBill numbers and said starting August 8, 2023, 222222 would be the sole payment number for State services.

A section of Kenyans have however been questioning the KES 50  convenience fee that is paid as an addition to the government services. During an interview, James Ayugi, the founder of eCitizen, explained that the fee collected is utilized to cover the operational expenses involved in maintaining the platform.

Ayugi, who serves as the CEO of Webmasters Kenya Ltd, emphasized that eCitizen operates similarly to a physical environment where services were previously accessed, with individuals managing the platform’s day-to-day operations.

Ayugi said eCitizen has saved the government other costs associated with printing, storage and many other extended costs that used to make government operations expensive.

Further, he clarified that there are essential services like education and the medical space that are zero-rated and exempted from the convenience fee. He said the fee is levied on only services that needed the individual to travel to access them.