Government Directs Adoption of 222222 Paybill by August 8

The government has moved forward the date for discontinuing all non-approved payment platforms and transitioning to the designated Paybill number 222222 by Tuesday, August 8, 2023.

In previous circulars, President William Ruto set the deadline as August 10, 2023.

However, in the latest circular released on August 4, Cabinet Secretary Mercy Wanjau urged accounting officials across all ministries, State departments, and agencies to transfer to the government’s single payment platform by the new deadline.

“In light of the foregoing, all ministries, state departments, and state agencies are directed to terminate all remaining non-designated payment platforms and migrate to the designated Paybill number 222222 by August 8, 2023.

“Provide a compliance status report by 5 pm on August 8, 2023, on a comply and explain basis as per the template below,” Wanjau added.

Under the template, state organisations must declare the Paybill number they are using other than 22222, indicate whether it is deactivated or not, provide reasons for non-deactivation is still operational, and offer an action plan and deadline.

Similarly, all ministries, state departments, and agencies must provide a status update on the onboarding of all government services to e-Citizen by September 30.

e-Citizen is a platform that allows Kenyans to access government services such as driving licence renewal, passport applications, and business registration.

“Submit a report of all services mapped out for onboarding onto the e-Citizen platform in your portfolio by 5 pm on August 11, 2023, as per the template below,” Wanjau said.

The accounting officers must identify the service being onboarded, the state of the process, the reasons for delays if it has not yet been onboarded, and proposed action plans and schedules.

The cabinet secretary said the reports should be transmitted to the government via directorate@ecitizen.co.ke.

“It is further notified that accounting officers will be held personally responsible for the full discharge and compliance of the directives herein,” she said.

On June 30, President Ruto directed that over 1,000 Paybill numbers used to collect payments for government services be closed down within 90 days.

Ruto stated that the government could not account for some of the Paybill numbers used by various government departments as he introduced the State’s new digital services at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC).

He stated that all government services should be integrated into e-Citizen and payments made via 222222 Paybill.

“There is a dedicated government pay channel, 222222. The expectation of the government is that all government revenue must now use the pay channel so that Treasury can have sight of every government service that is paid for,” he said.

He stated that in this manner, Treasury will ensure that money designated for a specific ministry or agency is directed to the appropriate ministry or agency, as well as that the entire ecosystem functions properly.

“I’m going to be making an announcement here that in the next 90 days, all other Paybills must be shut down because we have a problem with some of the Paybills that we cannot account for. We have close to over 1,000 Paybills some of which we don’t have sight of. They must now be closed,” he said.