MPs summon Treasury PS Chris Kiptoo over unaccounted eCitizen funds
Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo noted that recommendations to fix the system were made as early as 2017, but Treasury has failed to act.
The National Assembly has summoned Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo to explain why funds collected through the government’s eCitizen platform are not reaching official Treasury accounts at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), as concerns mount over missing revenue and ignored oversight recommendations.
The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale, issued the summons on Tuesday after Solicitor General Shadrack Mose failed to explain how much the State Law Office collects through eCitizen. Mose said he had no access to reports or records from Treasury showing the amounts collected from services such as marriage certificates.
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“eCitizen does not give us a report,” Mose told the committee.
Mwale said the committee was dissatisfied with the responses and that the PS must now appear in person to provide clarity.
“The PS must come and shed more light on this matter because it is an issue that affects government departments,” said Mwale.
The matter had earlier been flagged in previous Auditor General reports, with PAC having already recommended that Treasury streamline operations on the platform. However, MPs expressed frustration that these proposals had not been implemented.
Turkana MP Joseph Namwar questioned the integrity of the system, accusing senior officials of abusing the platform.
“It is not clear whether the money collected through the eCitizen platform ends at the Exchequer accounts,” Namwar said.
Aldai MP Marianne Kitany said the issue exposes deep flaws in the government’s payment system and supported the move to summon PS Kiptoo.
“There are cases of billions of public funds being at the eCitizen. Its reporting mechanism is wanting,” said Kitany, who also demanded to know where the platform is domiciled.
Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo noted that recommendations to fix the system were made as early as 2017, but Treasury has failed to act.
“The National Treasury needed to have acted on this matter way back in 2017. There are so many queries on this eCitizen platform, and all we want to do is issue a special letter to the National Treasury to explain why it has not acted on the recommendations of PAC,” Amollo said.
The issue came to light as PAC examined the 2022/23 Auditor General’s report on the State Law Office. According to the audit, the office collected Sh116.83 million from 15 of the 34 gazetted marriage centres.
However, no records were provided for the remaining 19 centres due to failure to submit periodic revenue reports.
The report noted that gazetted Deputy County Commissioners and Assistant County Commissioners continue to conduct and register civil marriages, but their offices did not provide the necessary financial data by the end of the financial year, June 30, 2023.
“In the circumstances, the existence of effective internal controls that ensure all revenues are collected and reported on promptly could not be confirmed,” the audit stated.
Solicitor General Mose attributed the missing data to frequent transfers of DCCs and ACCs, which disrupt regular reporting.
The MPs’ concern was further heightened by the Auditor General’s broader findings on the platform. In a recent report, Nancy Gathungu revealed that about Sh44.8 billion collected through eCitizen remains unaccounted for.
She also said the government lacks full control over the platform, relying heavily on vendors for major operations.
“Lack of full control of the system exposes the government to the risk of revenue leakages, lack of full accountability, system unavailability or downtime, security vulnerabilities and business continuity threats,” Gathungu warned.
Her report also pointed out that the vendors’ control of the system limits Treasury’s ability to onboard new services or reconfigure the platform for proper growth and performance. The findings have triggered questions over transparency, digital sovereignty and the government’s ability to secure and manage public revenue.
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