Webmasters Kenya Limited, Pesaflow Limited, and Olive Tree Media Limited are the three companies that run eCitizen platform, according to the recent revelation by Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang.
The three companies perform various roles in the system’s functionality: Webmasters, owned by James Ayugi, provide customer care and related services, while Pesaflow handles all payment processes.
On the other hand, Olive Tree Media oversees bulk messaging, notification security, and revenue mobilisation.
According to the PS, eCitizen has existed since 2014, its current contract with the government took effect on May 25, 2023, and is set to run for three years.
Under the agreement, the government was billed Sh50 million for the standardisation of the platform, with additional annual maintenance costs ranging between Sh300 million and Sh1.08 billion, depending on the number of services integrated into the portal.
The eCitizen platform charges a transaction-based tariff of between Sh10 and Sh20 for every service.
Currently, the platform runs 22,000 government services, collecting Sh700 million per day. The platform charges Sh50 convenience fee and maintenance cost for the system.
eCitizen private firm wants Kenyans to pay extra to get faster services
In the financial year ending June 2024, the platform made Sh1.45 billion. This includes Sh591 million from the convenience fee and Sh857 million for system maintenance.
How the eCitizen idea became a reality
The e-Citizen platform hosts government services, allowing citizens and non-citizens to access key government services with ease online.
The journey to developing the platform began in 2008 after its founder James Ayugi graduated with a bachelor’s in mathematics (Statistics) and computer science from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
In 2009, he teamed up with friends to implement an e-registry launched by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was the then Finance Minister.
Ayugi said Uhuru had foreseen a time when Kenya would be able to make payments for government services online.
His most remarkable days were in 2013 when Uhuru took power. During the campaigns, Uhuru’s teams promised to digitize government services, so Ayugi and his team were invited to present a system to help solve the issue.
Although the government’s main focus was on automated payments, Ayugi challenged them to automate services for the benefit of Kenyans as well.
”We presented a working system, and that’s what the government wanted. When the government said digital payment, there were guys who were thinking about ATM cards; they were only focusing on the payment side.
”So during our presentation, I told them that although they wanted payment, the citizens wanted services. The payment would not have been successful if the service had not been automated,’’ he said.
They were brought on board and started working on the project through the World Bank. The eCitizen platform went live for the first time in June 2014, with NTSA being the first agency to onboard its services to the platform.
Today, the platform hosts all government services including personal registration, immigration services, NHIF services, business registration, and social services, among others.
