Senior Gov't Officials Accused of Trying to Sabotage e-Citizen Platform

High ranking government officials have been accused of attempting to sabotage the e-Citizen payment system.

Webmasters Kenya Limited, the firm that created the e-Citizen platform claims that there is an underhand scheme aimed at decapitating the execution of digital government payments.

Webmasters Managing Director James Ayugi claims that some top State officers want a return of the manual payment systems.

Ayugi says the officials are unhappy since the platform has sealed the loopholes that allowed for the embezzlement of taxpayers’ funds in the past.

“The platform has disrupted the government’s procurement system. Individuals who use to get millions in contracts for the supply of papers in addition to their friends who benefited through kickbacks are some of the people fighting the system,” says Ayugi.

The Nairobi-based firm also says that the delay in disbursement of fees owed to it by the government is part of the sabotage.

“We had a call-center previously, but when funds could not be disbursed, we had to release them. Most of these young people are now jobless. Our physical travel needs to resolve client issues have also been curtailed,” Ayugi adds.

Ayugi spoke following allegations of losses amounting to Sh5.6 billion through the e-Citizen platform.

Webmasters has, however, denied the allegations, saying any loss of funds through the platform would have been immediately stopped by the respective government agencies and departments who use the service.

“There is not a single government department that has complained of loss of revenue. We are just an enabler to the payments. The Director of Criminal Investigations, for instance, collects its police clearance through E-Citizen, we have not seen them complain. The allegations are not only erroneous but also malicious and libelous,” claims Ayugi.