State services to be paid via single paybill

A State official shows how to access a government service through eCitizen. [David Gichuru, Standard]

The National Treasury has moved to centralise the payment of government levies after it introduced a new single paybill number.

This will enable Kenyans to make payments from multiple mobile wallets on the government online payment portal eCitizen.

This came as the State reiterated that the platform and domain of eCitizen.go.ke is wholly owned by the Kenyan government amid a long-running tussle with its operators.

"The Government of the Republic of Kenya has developed the eCitizen.go.ke Digital Payments Platform through which citizens and all persons will be able to pay for government services," said Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u in a gazette notice published yesterday.

"eCitizen.go.ke is a wholly owned domain and portal of the Government of Kenya. eCitizen.go.ke is the official Government Digital Payments Platform."

The Digital Payments platform is integrated with all available electronic payment platforms in Kenya, including mobile money payment services.

A raft of government services have been bundled under the platform generating tens of thousands of transactions every month.

More transactions are being migrated to the online payment portal, said Treasury as it unveiled a new universal pay bill number.

"All payments for Government services shall progressively be made through eCitizen.go.ke. The official Government of Kenya Pay Bill Number is 222222," said the CS in the notice.

The portal generates an invoice for the various services and the user proceeds to pay the amount using mobile money platforms through the government's pay bill number.

Once payment is made, the system reflects the transaction and generates a receipt that the user can print.

Services provided under the portal include motor vehicle ownership, land searches and birth and death registrations.