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In a statement on November 8, the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services said that the CEOs are expected to attend the Tuesday, November 14, meeting which will be convened by the Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau who chairs the eCitizen Implementation Committee.
Others expected in the meeting are principal secretaries for State Departments under which the agencies fall as well as board chairpersons.
Ms Wanjau who was addressing officials from various state agencies in Syokimau, Machakos County on Wednesday, said the summons followed a comply-or-explain letter that she had issued on August 4, this year.
“Following conversations that have happened, these state corporations have been invited for a meeting on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. and this meeting is to be attended by the CEO, the chair of the board and the PS who is the accounting officer,” she said
Among the parastatal bosses summoned are from
- Kenya Revenue Authority
- Kenya Power
- Kenya National Examination Council
- National Hospital Insurance Fund
- Higher Education Loans Board
- Hustler Fund
- Agricultural Finance Corporation
- Kenyatta National Hospital
- Kenya Bureau of Standards
- Kenya Ports Authority
- National Cereals and Produce Board
- National Aids Control Council
- Mathari Referral and Teaching Hospital
- Kenya Railways Corporation
- Kenya Ferry Services Limited
- Kenya National Trading Corporation
- Kenya School of Government
The Secretary to the Cabinet added that although the agencies had initially been granted temporary exemption from closing their paybills and channelling all payments to 222222 on account of their unique services, they were still bound by the December 31st deadline.
“The exemption was on the premise that indeed you need time but you still must remain on the pathway for digitisation without fracturing your services," Wanjau said.
On June 30, during the unveiling of government services on eCitizen, President William Ruto directed all state agencies to migrate their services online and to use 222222 as the official paybill by the end of the year.
The Secretary to the Cabinet accused some of agencies of frustrating revenue collection and transparency that were intended by the directive by maintaining separate bank accounts and advertising unofficial payment channels.
“If you want to use 222222 but meanwhile encourage payments to alternative platforms, what are you saying?” she questioned.
Immigration and Citizen Services PS Julis Bitok under whose docket eCitizen falls said the government intended to seal all loopholes on revenue collected to hit the target of Sh1.5 trillion annual collection.
“With technology, we will seal loopholes, enhance service delivery and raise revenue collection to hit out targets,” he said.
The PS for Performance and Delivery Management Veronica Nduva urged public officers to take the directive on eCitizen services seriously as it was a means of assessing individual and organisation’s performance.
Broadcasting and Telecommunications PS Edward Kisiangani challenged MDAs to deploy simplified communication on the availability of services on eCitizen.