Lobby groups take Ruto to court over single paybill number

A lobbying group has submitted a legal appeal to stop the government from using a single paybill number for all payments.
President William Ruto issued State agencies a deadline of the end of September, to transition all government services to the e-Citizen online platform. This deadline was set a few weeks ago.
Several different multiple paybill numbers are now utilized to pay for services. According to Dr. Ruto, the onboarding program aims to increase accountability by centralizing payment for government services under the paybill number 222222.
Opposition to the plan has come from Operation Linda Ugatuzi, which claims that the government has not made clear what the foundation for a unified payment platform will be.
“We are seeking the court to squash President William Rutos’ unilateral and arbitrary direction on the closure of all government digital payments allowing onboarding of all government services contrary to the Public Finance Management Act,” said the lobby’s chairperson Fred Ogola.
In court papers, the lobby claims the President is an interested party since he is set to personally benefit through the single payment channel.
“Besides the illegalities in the matter, we are concerned that the President is the supplier of the platform where these payments will be taking place hence it is for his personal benefit just like the hustler fund initiative,” claims the activist.
Ogola alleges that the Head of State wants to use the platform to control counties and agencies by stripping them of the power to monitor the collection of money.
“With money comes everything and the President has control over the military, police, State House and now he wants to control all the money for himself,” said Ogolla.
Ogolla expressed fears that should the migration be effected, several businesses dealing with online payments will shut down, resulting in unemployment.
“We are concerned that about 237 businesses that have been running all these payment platforms across the country will be closed down, resulting in job losses,” stated Ogolla yesterday.
High Court Judge Hedwig Ong’udi certified the matter as urgent and set the hearing on 4 September. Attorney General, Treasury and ICT ministries are required to file their responses by next Monday.