The government has issued a clarification on the widely used eCitizen platform, revealing that it has been operating under a 10-year pilot phase with a private party amid concerns about security and ownership of the critical service.
In a statement released on Thursday, April 17, government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura reiterated that the platform was fully government-owned, despite it being managed by a different service provider.
“The government fully owns the eCitizen platform but entered into a contractual agreement with Webmaster, a local service provider, to manage it. This system has been in a 10-year pilot phase as we build capacity and continuously enhance its functionality,” Mwaura clarified.
After the government first introduced the eCitizen platform in 2014, the platform grew to house 5,000 county and national government services in its first few years of existence, including agencies like the Kenya Revenue Authority, the National Registration Bureau and, more popularly, the National Transport and Safety Authority.
Since then, the online platform entered into a deal with a consortium comprising three firms for the management of the online platform. This is to allow for the government to build its own capacity, according to Mwaura.
Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang recently revealed that the latest deal was signed in 2023 and was set to run for three years.
According to the spokesperson, the pilot arrangement was part of the government's long-term strategy to build a fully sustainable in-house capacity to manage the eCitizen platform. He also noted that the government had already embarked on the process to establish digital independence by setting up innovation and software hubs.
Mwaura added: “It’s important to note that the government has established an innovation and AI hub at the Kenya School of Government, alongside software and application development hubs at Konza Technopolis, officially launched by H.E. President Ruto."
For now, however, eCitizen continues to run under the management of three companies procured by the government under a multibillion-shilling deal.
The spokesperson's statement came just days after a worrying report emerged suggesting that the government was at risk of losing precious national security data should it decide to terminate the deal with the consortium of three companies running its eCitizen platform.
On Tuesday, April 15, a report emerged suggesting the existence of an exit clause which gave the three companies the exclusive rights to switch off the system should the government pull out of the three-year deal.
The report also suggested the government may not have full control of the eCitizen platform, which currently runs 22000 government services and collects a whopping Ksh700 million a day.
Concerns about the security of the eCitizen platform date back as recently as February 2025, when the National Assembly Finance Committee summoned the Treasury Cabinet Secretary to explain the operation and management challenges facing the government platform.
According to the committee members, the Treasury’s lack of control over the online platform, which hosts 18 government services, poses risks of revenue leakage, security breaches, and operational disruptions.
During the meeting, the legislators also sought to know the measures put in place by the Treasury to cushion the country from pilferage of the revenue generated through the platform.
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