The e-citicen scandal in Kenya

Kenya has another new scandal. How many is that? We don't know. One thing can be said with certainty: it will not be the last scandal. Already on March 22nd. was reported via SHA. Why SHA is not working. The answer is really simple. Before SHA, there was NHIF. An old system was replaced with a new one. In the old system, payments were made directly into NHIF, but that's no longer the case. William Ruto changed that. Now payments are made into a single pot, which means that when a passport is applied for, an ID card is issued, a letter is sent, etc., all payments go into this pot. It's safe to assume that no one knows who paid what, when, and how much. And that may be the whole problem. And this is happening right now, when Kenyans are suffering from economic hardship. President William Ruto's silence on the multi-billion dollar e-Citizen scandal is causing outrage and deepening mistrust. And this mistrust is only growing. Millions of Kenyans are barely making ends meet. They are struggling with high living costs, unemployment, and massive tax increases, and a shocking revelation has gripped the nation: Shillings 44.8 billion collected through the government's e-Citizen portal have disappeared. The numbers are dire, but even more deafening is President Ruto's silence. The self-proclaimed champion of a "digital government" and a "ruthless fight against corruption" (he probably hasn't gotten far with that). President Ruto hasn't said a single word since the scandal came to light during a hearing of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week. Ruto's anti-corruption efforts have been subject to considerable criticism. A report by the Public Service Commission (February 2024) revealed that approximately 605 million KSh (approximately 3.8 million USD) were lost in the fiscal period up to June 2023 due to corrupt practices in the public administration, including the phenomenon of "ghost workers." Critics such as economist Johnson Denge accuse Ruto of lacking the political will and effective strategies to sustainably curb corruption. According to Transparency International, Kenya fell to 126th place out of 180 countries in the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, a drop of three places compared to 2022. Furthermore, Ruto himself is the focus of corruption allegations. Some polls perceive him as one of Kenya's most corrupt politicians. His wealth, including his wealth from a large chicken farm, is being scrutinized. His past, particularly the 2011 indictment before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged involvement in political violence in 2007/2008, which was dropped because witnesses were intimidated or bribed, raises doubts about his integrity. The Generation Z protests in 2024 and 2025, which were partly triggered by dissatisfaction with his government and its authoritarian tendencies, are also reinforcing the impression that his anti-corruption promises are not being sufficiently implemented. Many Kenyans cannot understand the president's silence. President Ruto has fought to shake off the growing impression that his government is riddled with corruption. There have been excessive tenders and shady contracts, even questionable appointments. The rumors haven't died down; they've grown louder. The signs are harder to ignore. 44.8 billion shillings have disappeared into the digital ether of e-Citizen. The president's inaction raises uncomfortable questions: - Why this silence? - Is this scandal not being treated as a national emergency? - And where are the swift arrests and nighttime investigations that the opposition and government critics often expect? eCitizen is an online portal of the Kenyan government, launched in 2014 to provide citizens and businesses with centralized access to over 16,000 government services from more than 100 ministries, agencies, and counties. It serves as a one-stop portal for information and application procedures, allowing many government services to be handled digitally with a single account, such as passport applications, driver's licenses, business licenses, birth and marriage certificates. The Auditor General stated that revenue from at least 34 marriage registration centers is either missing or completely unaccounted for. Some reports were not submitted. Some funds could never be traced. And yet, there was no immediate response from law enforcement. There was no word from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI); no action from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC); and no statement from the Presidential Communications Team. The government's silence is deafening. This is the same government that tracked down and arrested protesters within hours. The protesters were often branded as terrorists. Yet when 44.8 billion shillings quietly disappear, the entire government seems to shrug its shoulders. Even more worrying is that the government does not fully control the e-Citizen system. The system is largely operated by anonymous third parties. The Attorney General shocked the PAC by confirming that his office does not receive any reports from the platform. Billions flow daily through a system that the government barely understands and seemingly doesn't want to understand. Read more about SHA: @https://afrikamonamour.blogspot.com/2025/03/sha-sh114b-payouts-spark-fears-of.html @https://afrikamonamour.blogspot.com/2025/03/nhif-against-sha.html @https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2025/07/e-citizen-billions-shocking-truth-and-rutos-silence/ @https://democracyinafrica.org/kenya-has-changed-the-gen-z-protests-and-what-they-mean @https://allafrica.com/stories/202507240508.html @https://x.com/eric_demuth/status/1907804435931083034