Government agencies are racing to beat the August 8 deadline of integrating all payment platforms into a single paybill even as experts say there is still a lot to be done.
All ministries, departments and agencies were directed to migrate their payment systems from the current numerous numbers to Paybill Number 222222 and e-Citizen
The order by President William Ruto will see more than 1,000 paybill numbers used for the collection of payments for government services shut down.
To accomplish this, all existing non-designated paybill numbers will be closed by August 10, 2023. Additionally, all government services are to be on-boarded onto the e-Citizen platform by September 30, 2023.
According to financial experts the move will ease payments for Kenyans since there is no provision in the law on the mode of payment for government services.
Internal Budget Partnerships Country lead for Kenya Abraham Muriu says that the move will likely cut the governments monthly charges for the many paybills in operation.
He however said if the single payment platform is not prudently managed it will still a pose a challenge in disbursing funds to the various state agencies.
“The move will definitely reduce administrative costs but is also likely to cause delays in releasing funds to some of the agencies. In case of a breach or downtime the government will lose a lot of money,” said Muriu.
As part of effort to fight corruption, the President announced that the migration to the e-Citizen online platform will pave the way for the integration of all government services by the end of September.
With the introduction of the single paybill system Kenya Kwanza aims to eliminate inefficiency, corruption, wastage and discrimination that is inherent in human interactions.
“It’s a good move but a lot of work still has to be done on the background [so that] when someone pays for immigration services it should be able to be distinguished from someone who has paid to renew his driving license at NTSA,” added Muriu.
He said channelling all government payments into a single account will require proper accounting structures to prevent any delays in sending money to other state agencies.
Under the plan the single paybill involves transitioning all government payments to a single payment platform with the designated paybill number.
To ensure compliance, all ministries and state departments must submit a report on their progress by the end of Tuesday (today), and another report detailing the mapping of services by Friday.
The deadline for providing the compliance status report is 5:00 pm on August 8.
Accounting officers in state departments nationwide are entrusted with the responsibility of terminating current paybills and ensuring proper payment channels.
The memo states that the accounting officers will be held personally accountable for fully implementing and adhering to the directives.
It instructs all ministries, state departments, and state agencies to promptly disseminate the information to their respective institutions and facilitate necessary engagements with the e-Citizen team.