Today, digitisation headlines the core of almost every service offered into the global market. Industry leaders across various sectors are embracing the need to go paperless and increase efficiency in delivering several critical services.

Kenya not left behind, has over the years witnessed significant milestones in the road to digitization. In the last decade or so, the government has adopted digitisation resulting in increased efficiency in service delivery. This has been achieved through the e-Citizen platform.

e-Citizen is easily one of the most frequented websites in the country, housing a number of essential government services. And, while many Kenyans are aware of the platform, few know the brains behind the website.

James Ayugi is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Webmasters (K) Ltd, an information technology company that built the all inclusive government online platform.

Founding

During a previous interview with a local daily, Ayugi revealed that the creation of e-Citizen dates back to  2008 during the reign of President Mwai Kibaki, who had made clear his administration's intentions to digitise a number of government services.

At the time, former President Uhuru Kenyatta served as the Cabinet Minister for Finance, and was pushing for the introduction of online payments for government services.

However, it was not until President Kenyatta took over in 2013 that the idea would be realised.

During his campaign, Uhuru had assured members of the public that his administration would digitise government services and in June 2014 e-Citizen was officially launched with the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA) coming onboard.

Services

e-Citizen allows both citizens and non-citizens to access various government services. These may include registration of persons, business registration, immigration services, NHIF services, and social services among others.

Adding to the list, the President William Ruto administration is also pushing to have parents of learners in public schools pay tuition fees through the platform.

Ownership & Administration

In a recent interview, the tech guru revealed that his company entered into an agreement with the government to hand over IP rights that they had developed for Kenya.

"In legal terms, the government owns 100 percent of the eCitizen ecosystem, the ownership was transferred through the agreement we had," he said.

He, however, added that during the process, his company will continue train government officials on critical aspects of the platform.

"Now, there is the technical support that we continue to provide on the platform. Having been the people who developed this from the ground, it was only sensible for us to be given the opportunity since we have proven capacity. 

"And that's pretty much what the government did, it regularised and gave us an opportunity to implement the proof of concept that we had done and for that we're now a service provider engaging with the government on contractual terms," Ayugi said.

He explains that during the handover process, his company has continued to work with the government in training personnel and ensuring that the system operates at at optimal level.

"When any of our services is needed, there are those procurement choices of either retaining our services or changing to other providers. However, for now, there are clear terms and we are working with the government directly to make sure that the system works," he explained.

Ayugi further revealed that his company was not paid any money by the government for the handover.

"The handover was in good faith. The government wanted the ownership of the system and we wanted to be regularised. We developed it anyway for the government and so it was not a paid handover, it was an agreement that we reached," he stated.

e-Citizen Data Security

Over the years, Kenyans have questioned the safety of their data collected by different government agencies through the platform. According to Ayugi, his company has no access to the data which is stored within the state agencies.

"Every department only has access to data that is relevant to them. Again, all the rules of data protection have been complied with by the respective organisations," Ayugi explains.