Wilson Sossion, a former secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), has applauded the education ministry's initiative to require parents of students enrolled in national schools to pay fees via the e-Citizen platform.

Principal Secretary (PS) for Education Belio Kipsang issued the directive, stating that it is a component of the government's endeavors to integrate all government services onto the e-Citizen platform to improve service delivery.

In an interview with Citizen TV on Monday, Sossion questioned the directive and expressed hope that using the platform to pay will promote transparency and safeguard both parents and students.

He maintained that the one-stop shopping will assist in getting rid of any indirect fees that some institutions may have introduced illegally.


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"This should not be difficult, parents can do their transactions through M-Pesa from wherever. It is a simple and convenient process and you will be able to log in the name of the student and the admission number against the fee payment," he said.

He did point out that even though payment is required, the public and parents still need to be informed about how it will work smoothly.

Robert Mbui, a Member of Parliament (MP) from Kathiani, criticized the decision while appearing on the same program, stating that it had only been loosely considered.

He maintained that upcoming real-world issues could seriously impair institutional education processes for parents and school administrators.


"How does the school get money when it needs to procure or make payments? The idea may be noble, but I think the problem with Kenya Kwanza is that we are not taking time to figure out these things and to discuss them with the public," said Mbui.

Ledama Olekina, the senator from Narok, countered that because some Kenyans are unfamiliar with the workings of the digital platforms, the country is not yet prepared to embrace such a crucial step.

"How do you explain to a Mosiro child that they need to go to a different school and that there isn't a bank there that they can pay with e-citizen? Do the parents know what e-citizen is? We must give up acting like we live in the first world," he declared.

All national school principals must provide the State Department's Director General's office with their school's bank account details by Tuesday, February 6, 2024.