Kenyans to access over 1,000 services offered by public universities on e-Citizen

Kenyans will now be able to access over 1000 services offered by Public universities on the e-Citizen portal, the government has announced.

This aligns with President William Ruto's directives to public institutions regarding the digitisation of services to minimise corruption and enhance efficiency in service delivery to citizens.

In a press release dated August 10, 2023, Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok announced that the move follows a meeting with Vice Chancellors and senior administrators from 47 public universities.

Bitok also noted that the meeting was purposefully held to wrap up the onboarding admission procedures to ensure that all public institutions were set.

He subsequently urged all administrators to effectively comply with the new directives which he says are intended to upheave access to government services and collection of relevant revenue.

Bitok also explained that the move would benefit universities by enabling them to track revenues collected from students' payments in real-time

"We have crossed the Rubicon on this and going digital is no longer an option. It is a non-negotiable minimum that all public universities are required to comply with and for very good reasons because digitalisation is a legacy target of the government,” he stated.

"Among the benefits he listed that the universities stand to enjoy by going digital is being able to track online and in real-time their revenues collected from students’ payments and other services offered by the institutions," he added.

The PS further announced that the drive would be linked to the launch of the digital ID and Unique Personal Identifier number in a move meant to enforce compliance with international travel requirements by getting rid of the forgery of registration documents.

So far, the e-Citizen platform hosts over 5,127 government services and the number is expected to double by December.

Vice Chancellors who spoke during the event asked the government to enhance convenience by providing free and reliable internet connection to public universities.