PS: e-Citizen collects Sh700m daily, has over 30m subscribers

Citizen Services Principal Secretary Prof Julius Bitok has said that at least Sh700 million is collected on e-citizen platform on a daily basis.

Bitok yesterday said that currently, e-citizen has 13 million users enjoying government services digitally, using a digital ID and targets at least 30 million subscribers by December.

With 30 million subscribers, projections are that the average daily collections will rise to about Sh1 billion on a daily basis.

“We are able to collect Sh700 million daily from ecitizen and we are leveraging on IPRS, which is our database and connected to digital ID so that we can be able to run our services on ecitizen,” said the PS.

Bitok, who was speaking on the second day of Network of African Data Protection Authorities (NADPA) conference in Nairobi, said digital identities in Africa have the potential to enhance service delivery across all sectors, adding that it remains the core of a nation.

He said the government has created a digital ID known as the Maisha card, which is enhanced in terms of security, interoperability across the system.

“We have the Maisha number being given to new borns and will run through their lifetime, they will use it in primary and secondary schools as ID number, social security and medical among other roles,” said the PS.

Conference participants

He also told the conference participants that there also exists a Maisha integrated database, which connects all parts of Government and also, this is where the private sector queries to confirm identity of persons before they do any transactions. “Digital ID has a huge potential it can bring to African countries and even as we engage in financial inclusivity, as we discuss how more people come in, digital identity becomes central in the conversation,” he stated.

As Kenya became a visa free country in January, Bitok said that it also introduced electronic travel authorization (ETA) for everybody coming to Kenya.

RTA is another interconnected system to digital ID where the Government is able to capture data and store it in a database for all visitors coming to Kenya at any given time.

As the Government undertakes digital transformation, Bitok said they are cognisant that cyber security becomes a major threat as we go digital.

He however assured that the systems have been tested and are tamper proof.