How e-Citizen owners struck jackpot in controversial deal

Demonstration of online registration of marriage services at the E-citizen website. [File, Standard] 

A consortium of three technology companies running the controversial eCitizen platform was given sweeping powers and an opportunity to mint billions from taxpayers seeking government services, according to a secret contract signed as soon as President William Ruto took power.   

The contract signed on May 25, 2023, between ICT Authority on hand and Webmasters, Pesaflow and Olive Tree Media, stipulated that the consortium was to be paid off payment of Sh50 million, and an annual fee of about Sh1 billion when the government onboarded over 8000 services. Currently, there are over 22,000 services that are being accessed on the platform.