Only one in 20 Nairobi residents who signed up for the county government e-payment platform are using it. Ms Anna Othoro, the County Executive Member for Trade Industrialisation, Co-operative Development and Tourism said Nairobians were still making trips to City Hall to pay for their land rates and business permits.
This, she said, was despite the county government’s policy to shift to the system to stem revenue losses through some of its corrupt officers. The World Bank funded the initiative at a cost of Sh25 million.
“For us to be able to serve residents properly we realised we had to automate our payment systems. But the problem in Kenya is that we lack trust in online payment systems,” Ms Othoro said. She said the county would soon launch an intensive media campaign to educate the public on the merits of using the platform.
“Even though only 1,000 out of 20,000 people who signed up are using it, we have to keep pushing for its use because the advantages outweigh the perceived risks involved,” Ms Othoro said during a meeting of online commerce companies in Nairobi.
The e-payment platform is part of the county’s ICT transformation programme, which started in 2013 and is aimed at improving efficiency and accountability in the collection and management of revenue. Its latest phase, which allows matatu owners to buy seasonal tickets and city estates tenants to pay their rents from their mobile phones, went live in July.
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