Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has recommended sweeping reforms to strengthen governance, financial accountability and operational efficiency of the Government’s eCitizen digital payment platform.

In an audit report on the platform, Gathungu outlined a series of measures that the government should implement to improve oversight, reduce reliance on vendors, and enhance transparency in revenue collection.

A key recommendation in the report is that Webmasters Kenya Ltd should unconditionally hand over control of the eCitizen platform to the government, in line with provisions of the handover agreement. 

The Auditor-General also urged the government to introduce a robust change management process requiring all system modifications to be documented, reviewed and approved by authorized personnel.

“To reduce over-reliance on external vendors, the report recommends that the government build internal technical capacity by training staff in system administration, operations and maintenance,” Gathungu stated. 

The report recommends that the National Treasury establish a comprehensive legal framework to govern the eCitizen platform. 

“The framework should address key issues, including data protection, information security standards, and compliance requirements,” the report read in part.

To improve coordination among institutions managing the platform, the Auditor-General also proposed the creation of an oversight body or steering committee. 

“The body would bring together representatives from the Directorate of eCitizen Services, the Government Digital Payments Unit and the ICT Authority to provide leadership, align strategy, set shared objectives and resolve operational conflicts,” Gathungu recommended.

Furthermore, the Treasury has been advised to develop detailed Standard Operating Procedures that cover all key business processes on the platform.

“These procedures would guide routine operations, system failure responses, and exception handling to ensure consistency and efficiency,” she said.

The report also calls for formal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with financial service providers to clearly define performance expectations, service metrics, roles, and dispute resolution mechanisms.

The Auditor-General further recommended periodic independent audits of the platform to assess operational constraints and provide assurance on system integrity.

On revenue management, the report proposes reforms to ensure real-time automation of government collections. 

At the same time, the Treasury has been advised to ensure that net collections for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies and county governments are remitted directly to their respective bank accounts rather than being routed through central collection accounts.