The High Court on Tuesday dealt a blow to the government after it declared a directive requiring parents to pay school fees through the eCitizen platform unconstitutional.
High Court Judge Chacha Mwita ruled in favour of a petition filed by Nakuru-based activist Magare Gikenyi and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), who had challenged the government's directive, saying the process lacked adequate public participation and stakeholder engagement.
He also noted that the Ksh50 convenience fee imposed on transactions using the eCitizen platform had no legal basis.
The ruling follows an earlier one where the court temporarily suspended the directive on February 7 last year, pending the determination of the petition.
"High Court has declared the Ministry of Education's directive on payment of school fees via the eCitizen platform irrational, capricious, unconstitutional, null and void. I was representing LSK in this matter," stated lawyer Omochokoro O'mong'oni, who was representing LSK.
In February 2024, President William Ruto stated that paying school fees and other government fees via e-Citizen was unstoppable and vowed to tackle any resistance from corrupt cartels.
Speaking when when met Kenyans living in the diaspora, Ruto noted while insisting on the directive that the reduction of more than 3,000 paybill numbers in government to one had helped monitor revenues and eliminate theft.
Additionally, he maintained that the government was committed to ensuring the transition to a digital payment system was complete to stop misuse and pilferage of government resources.
On January 31, last year, the then Education PS Belio Kipsang sent out a circular directing parents and students to pay school fees for all government learning institutions via the Citizen platform.
Additionally, the circular mandated that all other levies charged by schools were to be directed to the same platform.
The directive soon after attracted controversy from stakeholders who protested the move, saying that they were not involved.
During the tiff, eCitizen founder and Chief Executive Officer, James Ayugi was forced to comment on the directive, where he affirmed that the directive given by the Ministry of Education was to register each bank account of every school.
He acknowledged that there were ghost schools and students maintaining that there was a need for accountability when it came to payment of fees.
Ayugi mentioned that each school has a bank account registered with the Ministry of Education, and each student has a student number, dismissing claims that the directive had other intentions.
In December last year, the High Court dealt another blow to President Ruto after issuing orders suspending his directive to 34 parastatal chiefs over onboarding their services on the e-Citizen platform.
In a late-evening ruling delivered at the Milimani High Court in Nairobi on Tuesday, December 10, Justice Bahati Mwamuye directed that the 34 parastatal chiefs suspend the implementation of Ruto's order.
