The consortium behind the development and maintenance of eCitizen, the government’s digital platform for accessing public services, has defended its financial transparency in the face of ongoing concerns about the accuracy of revenue records processed through the system.
This follows Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu’s report, which questioned the reliability of eCitizen’s financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 2023, highlighting that Ksh.15.5 billion in revenue could not be independently verified.
Her office also identified inconsistencies between the revenue figures recorded by various ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) for the year ending June 2024 and the amounts reflected in eCitizen’s digital receipts.
eCitizen Developers Defend Platform’s Integrity Amid Revenue Accountability Concerns
ECS (Electronic Citizen Services) LLC, the consortium responsible for developing and maintaining Kenya’s eCitizen platform, has strongly defended the integrity and transparency of its operations following mounting concerns over the accuracy of revenue records processed through the digital service portal.
The concerns stem from recent audits by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, who flagged discrepancies in financial records for the fiscal years ending June 2023 and June 2024. Specifically, the Auditor-General questioned the verifiability of revenue receipts totaling Ksh.15.5 billion and highlighted mismatches between the records held by various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and the figures captured through the eCitizen platform’s digital payment system.
In response, ECS LLC has maintained that its systems are secure, fully auditable, and not responsible for the gaps cited in government financial statements. David Kiprono, ECS’s Director of Government Relations, emphasized that all transactions processed through the platform are fully documented and verifiable before the consortium submits its monthly invoices to the government for maintenance services.
“Every end month, we invoice for every transaction that has gone through our payment gateway. On the government side, they are required to verify that all those transactions occurred. We can pull all the data from our system and verify every transaction—down to the phone number, the service requested, and the ID number,”
He clarified that the issues flagged by the Auditor-General and raised in Parliament relate primarily to internal government processes, not the technical functionality or reliability of the eCitizen platform itself.
“Parliament has questions to ask the government department handling eCitizen, which is under the Interior Ministry,” Kiprono added.
ECS LLC is a three-member consortium, with Webmasters Kenya Ltd—where Kiprono also serves as a founding director—handling customer care and user support services. Kiprono noted that as a vendor, ECS’s primary role is to deploy, manage, and maintain the digital infrastructure, while accountability for revenue reconciliation falls to the relevant government agencies.
“As a vendor, we deploy and manage the system. It is very foolproof. You cannot falsify a transaction,” he asserted. “Sometimes, when there is a lack of clarity on their side, they may pause payments while they conduct internal reviews. Once that’s clarified, they proceed to pay.”
The eCitizen platform was designed to simplify access to government services by digitizing processes such as ID applications, business registrations, and tax payments. Its wide adoption has significantly improved service delivery efficiency, but the recent audit revelations have cast a spotlight on the need for stronger coordination and transparency between the platform’s operators and the government entities it serves.
As Parliament continues to probe the discrepancies, ECS LLC has reiterated its readiness to cooperate fully and provide any required transaction data to support investigations and ensure accountability.