Why the proposed eCitizen fee hike is a burden we don’t need

The digital revolution was promised to Kenyans as a way to streamline bureaucracy, eliminate tea culture, and bring government services to our fingertips. However, that digital bridge is increasingly becoming a toll road.

With the National Treasury’s recent proposal to double the eCitizen convenience fee and introduce a tiered charging system, it is time to ask: Why are we paying extra for the government to do its job?

The move, proposed by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, suggests a shift from a flat Ksh. 50 fee to a system where users pay up to Ksh. 100 depending on the service cost. While the state frames this as a necessary step for system maintenance, the reality looks much more like an unnecessary tax on the digital-first citizen.

The most significant hurdle for this fee isn’t just public opinion, it’s the law. The High Court has previously declared the Ksh. 50 fee illegal, labeling it a double charge. When a citizen pays for a passport, a business permit, or a driving license, that fee is intended to cover the administrative costs of providing that service.

By tacking on a convenience fee, the government is essentially charging citizens for the delivery method. In an era where digital transformation is supposed to reduce operational costs for the state, penalizing the user for choosing the most efficient path is counter-intuitive and legally dubious.

The argument for maintenance costs begins to crumble when one looks at where the money is going. Recent audit reports from the Auditor General reveal that three private firms, Pesaflow Limited, Webmasters Kenya, and Olive Tree Limited, earned a staggering Ksh. 1.45 billion in a single year.

If the eCitizen platform is generating Ksh. 2 billion in daily collections, the infrastructure should be more than capable of sustaining itself. Instead, the convenience fee appears to serve as a massive revenue stream for private entities, effectively privatizing the gateway to public services.

The Treasury warns that without this fee, the 30,000 services hosted on eCitizen are at risk. However, digital systems are built to scale. Once the infrastructure is in place, the cost of processing the 10,000th transaction is significantly lower than the first.

By introducing a tiered system, charging Ksh. 70 for services up to Ksh. 99,999 and Ksh. 100 for anything above, the government is treating a public utility like a luxury commercial product. A digital portal should be a standard feature of modern governance, not a premium add-on that citizens must pay for every time they interact with the state.

Digital transformation should be a win-win: the government saves on manual labor and paperwork, and the citizen saves on travel and time. By doubling down on the convenience fee, the state is effectively erasing those gains for the taxpayer.

If the government is truly committed to a Digital Superhighway, it must remove the toll booths. Public services should be accessible, affordable, and free from unnecessary convenience surcharges that serve private interests over the public good. It is time to retire the convenience fee and integrate the cost of digital maintenance into the national budget, where it belongs.

Comparison of e-Citizen convenience fees