The company behind the creation of the e-citizen payment system, Webmasters Kenya Limited, has accused ‘high-ranking government officers’ of disrupting the execution of the process.
Without mentioning names, the Managing Director of Webmaster, James Ayugi noted that there are prominent individuals who are playing underhand tactics to return the alleged efficient system to manual payment systems.
Mr Ayugi further revealed that since its launch in 2014, the system has saved on payment facilitation costs.
Emphasizing on its significance, Mr Ayugi noted: “The platform has disrupted the government’s procurement system. Individuals who use to get millions in contracts for the supply of papers in addition to their friends who benefited through kickbacks are some of the people fighting the system.”
According to him, the individuals are fighting the system which has since sealed a gap which allowed for the embezzlement of State Funds.
Adding to the challenged they are currently facing, Mr Ayugi stated that the government is yet to pay its dues to the firm on its convenience fees hence leading to the firm downsizing.
In turn, the laying off of some staff had led to ineffective customer support system evidenced by recent public complains.
“We had a call center previously, but when funds could not be disbursed, we had to release them. Most of the young people are now jobless,” Ayugi lamented.
Read: DCI Sleuths Target eCitizen Over Disappearance Of Sh5.6 Billion
Responding to claims that the system has lost Ksh 5.6 billion mysteriously, Ayugi denounced the claims, affirming that all the cash collected using the platform is taken by the Central Bank.
“Even the funds that are due to be made for various services that people have paid for twice are to be made by the government. We do not handle any cash,” he affirmed amid claims of embezzlement of the funds collected.
He further added that no government department has complained of loss of revenue as the platform is only an enabler for different government departments.
“The firm has collected Ksh40 billion for the state which has been wired to the Treasury since the inception of the programme.”
Ayugi also mentioned that the transaction of made is always moved from pay bill to the government account at the Central Bank, hence no intermediaries.
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