M-Pesa and eCitizen Ease Access to Kenya Government Services

The world is becoming increasingly digital, in a bid to increase efficiency in service delivery and reduce time spent in queues. A decade ago, the thought that you could conveniently pay for goods and services using your mobile phone would have been considered farfetched. Today, mobile money and business in Kenya are inseparable.

Online portals are also becoming increasingly popular. Universities in the country have embraced them in a bid to increase efficiency when it comes to student enrollment, payment of fees, exam scheduling among others. Financial institutions have also adopted online portals, making banking an almost seamless process.

The current Kenyan government has been nicknamed, ‘the digital government’. In a bid to live up to this, the government launched eCitizen; an online portal that seeks to make access to government services more convenient for citizens. The portal is managed by the ICT Authority of Kenya and was the brainchild of the Ministry of Finance.

The eCitizen portal offers public services to citizens in an efficient and cost effective manner. It also allows for government transparency as a lot of the frustrating long application processes that led to corruption are now a non-issue. Information and forms can also be quickly accessed which leads to a faster processing time.

Some of the services available on the portal include: business registration, notification of marriage, commissioning of affidavits, renewal of driving licence, passport application and land rent clearance certificate. More services are to be added soon including: birth and death certificates issuance, application for Kenyan visa and land rent clearance certificate.

The services on the eCitizen portal can be conveniently paid for electronically. The government has acquired M-Pesa PayBill number 206206 specifically for there services. Customers no longer need to carry cash with them or deposit in bank accounts to present bank slips to access government services. They can simply use the money in their M-Pesa account and access these services without any challenges. This is a step in the right direction that is sure to make accessing government services incredibly convenient for the common mwananchi.