Ruto vows action against schools defying fee payment on eCitizen platform
President William Ruto has vowed to take action against learning institutions that have resisted the government’s directive to pay school fees through the eCitizen platform.
Speaking during the Third National Executive Retreat at the KCB Leadership Centre in Kajiado County on Thursday, June 19, 2025, Ruto accused some school administrators of opposing the directive over their reluctance to embrace transparency.
“There are some institutions that still don’t want to pay on eCitizen because they have things to hide, and some of them have taken us to court. We will be engaging with our primary and secondary school heads who have refused to pay school fees on eCitizen.” Ruto said.
Ruto warned that institutions refusing to comply would be pursued as part of a wider push for digitised public service delivery.
“Many other institutions that are still out there, we will go after all of them. That is our exercise for the future,” he said.
He criticised the school heads who have blocked parents from using the digital system and instead insist on issuing handwritten receipts.
“They have refused parents to pay via eCitizen, and they want to continue writing those receipt books on exercise books. We are telling them the era of transparency is here,” Ruto said.
Ruto urged parents to insist on paying fees digitally, hailing schools that have adopted the platform as champions of accountability.
High Court rule
This comes a few months after the High Court ruled that the directive requiring parents to pay school fees through the eCitizen platform is unconstitutional.
In January 2024, then Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang, via a circular, directed all payments of school fees to be done on the eCitizen platform.
Justice Chacha Mwita, delivering a ruling, prohibited the government from enforcing the directive, stating that there was no public participation before its implementation. He also noted that the Ksh50 convenience fee imposed on transactions has no legal basis.
“The directive lacks a legal foundation and was issued without public participation. School fees are not government revenue to be collected through a national platform,” the court ruled.
The court further questioned the integrity and transparency of the eCitizen platform, noting that it is unclear who collects the funds and where they are deposited. Justice Mwita emphasized that charging parents an additional fee amounts to double taxation.
“It does not make sense for the government to compel citizens to use a platform and then force them to pay to sustain it,” he added.
