The government is at risk of losing critical financial and national security data should it terminate the contract with a consortium of three companies running its eCitizen platform.
According to the exit clause of the deal, M/S Webmasters Kenya Limited, Pesa Flow Limited, and Olive Tree Media Limited companies have the exclusive right to switch off the system at will should the government pull out of the three-year multi-billion deal.
The National Assembly Committee on Security and National Administration received new documents on April 15 indicating that the platform does not fully belong to the government as earlier claimed.
This is according to the contracts signed on May 25, 2023, which outline terms for the support and maintenance of the e-Citizen platform.
“In the event of termination, howsoever occurring, the Suppliers shall be entitled to rescind, withdraw or otherwise uninstall all their proprietary infrastructure and resources, including all technical infrastructure whether software or otherwise, that may have been deployed in order to enable them to provide their services under this Agreement,” the contract reads.
Furthermore, the agreement exempts the suppliers from any liability in case of termination, placing the burden on the government to indemnify them against any resulting claims, data loss, system downtime, or service unavailability.
Profit from eCitizen
The eCitizen platform currently runs 22,000 government services, collecting Ksh700 million per day.
The contract runs for three years and was signed by ICT Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stanley Kamanguya and Director General Isaac Ochieng on behalf of the Kenyan government.
Webmasters Kenya Ltd was represented by its CEO James Ayugi, PesaFlow Ltd was signed for by Evid Sibi, while Olive Tree Media Ltd was overseen by James Kabiru, one of its directors.
The service providers who make their money from the Ksh50 convenience fee and maintenance cost for the system pocketed a whopping Ksh1.45 billion in the financial year ending June 2024.
Also Read: eCitizen Founder Explains Why Kenyans Pay Extra Ksh.50
This includes Ksh591 million from the convenience fee and Ksh857 million for system maintenance.
The MPs raised concerns about the seniority of the government officials who signed the deal two years ago.
The legislators questioned why most senior government officials, including ICT Cabinet Secretary (CS) and Principal Secretary (PS) were not involved.
Saku MP and Committee Vice-Chair Dido Raso questioned the legality of the contract’s execution, noting the absence of a signature from the Principal Secretary for ICT.
“I don’t see any PS signature on this document, yet the PS is the accounting officer. Why are such crucial contracts not properly endorsed?” Raso asked.
Also Read: 84-Year-Old Woman Sets Record as Oldest eCitizen User
Contract Threat to National Security
Further, the MPs said the contract is a threat to national security, adding that the former Immigration and Citizen Services PS Julius Bitok maintained that the platform is fully owned by the government.
“It’s very scary from a national security and financial standpoint. We’ve tried severally to get answers from the State Department. The former PS insisted E-Citizen is fully government-owned, but the contract says otherwise,” said Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma.
Committee Chair Gabriel Tongoyo criticized the ICT Department for allegedly attempting to withhold the documents from Parliament.
“We’ve been asking for this document for over two months. It seems there was a deliberate attempt to hide the truth, and we won’t take that lightly,” he said.
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