Paying school fees through eCitizen will curb corruption - Sossion

The directive was given by Education Principal Secretary (PS) Belio Kipsang who said that it is part of the government’s efforts to onboard all government services onto the e-Citizen platform to enhance service delivery.

While interrogating the directive on Monday during an interview with Citizen TV, Sossion expressed optimism that payment through the platform will now instil transparency and protect both students and parents.

He argued that the one-stop transaction will help eliminate all indirect charges that might have been illegally introduced by certain institutions.

"This should not be difficult, parents can do their transactions through M-Pesa from wherever. It is a simple and convenient process and you will be able to log in the name of the student and the admission number against the fee payment," he said.

He however noted that despite the payment being mandatory, the government still owes parents and the public an explanation of how it will seamlessly function.

Kathiani Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Mbui, who appeared on the same show, disputed the move, noting that it has been vaguely thought through.

He argued that there are impending practical challenges for school heads and parents which might end up crippling the education processes in institutions.

"How then does the school get money when it needs to procure or make payments? The idea may be noble but I think the problem with Kenya Kwanza is that we are not taking time to figure out these things and to discuss with the public," said Mbui.

On his part, Narok Senator Ledama Olekina argued that Kenya is not yet ready to onboard such a vital move on its digital platforms since some citizens are not familiar with how the systems work.

"How do you explain to a child in Mosiro who needs to go to another school and there is no bank there then you tell them go pay through e-citizen, what is e-citizen do the parents know it. We need to stop pretending that we are a first-world country," he said.

All national school principals have been directed to share their school bank account details with the office of the State Department's Director General by Tuesday, February 6, 2024.