The National Assembly Committee on Education has given Citizen Services and Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok 7 days to appear before MPs.
This is after Bitok allegedly failed to show up three times consecutively to answer queries on payment of school fees via eCitizen.
The Committee led by Tinderet MP Julius Melly noted that Bitok was first requested to appear before MPs on March 6 but failed to do so.
According to a letter that he wrote the MPs, he failed to show up for the March 6 Committee as he was out of the country on official duty.
The PS was again requested to appear before the Education Committee on March 20.
He failed to attend, citing a meeting at State House.
On Thursday, April 11, Bitok was to show up again but failed to show up as he was attending a retreat.
The MPs said they had received a letter from Bitok explaining he also has a meeting with the Head of Public Service Felix Koskei in Mombasa from April 12, thus his failure to show up.
The MPs said they felt Bitok was not taking his appearance before the committee seriously.
“We will write him a letter telling him the committee is not happy. If he misses to show up again, as guided by standing orders, we will summon him,” Melly said.
“We give him 7 days to appear or else will summon him.”
The MPs said it was too soon to issue anything punitive against the PS and gave him one more chance.
The legislators wanted the PS to explain how parents who pay school fees in kind will do so in the eCitizen platform.
“My constituents have been calling, asking how they will pay fees with their bags of maize and beans,” one MP said.
The directive to have school fees paid on eCitizen came on January 31 from Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang.
However, the High Court suspended the directive.
High Court judge Chacha Mwita extended the orders issued until April 17, when the case will be heard.
Justice Mwita suspended the circular issued to Belio on January 31, requiring parents, guardians and students to pay fees and other levies through the platform
