Good conduct, birth certificates earn State Sh5.5bn

The government raked in Sh5.5 billion from certificate of good conduct, birth and death certificates, passport and work permits fees in the year to June 2017.

Data submitted to a parliamentary committee shows that the government, through the e-Citizen portal collected Sh4.04 billion, from foreigners seeking work permit.

The Interior ministry told Parliament that a further Sh1 billion was collected from passport fees, Sh373.27 million on electronic transactions relating to certificate of good conduct and Sh134.08 million from registration of births and deaths.

“Accounting Officers must at all times ensure that they avail supporting documentation to the financial statements within three months after the end of the financial year pursuant to the PFM Act 2012,” Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said.

The committee asked Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho to ensure that all supporting documentation to the financial statements on the e-Citizen transactions is availed to the House within three months after the end of the financial year pursuant.

The committee said although indications are that e-Citizen has enhanced delivery of services to the citizens and public, no documentary evidence was provided to confirm that revenue collected through e-Citizen during the year to June 2017 was transferred to the principal secretary who is the receiver of revenue for the State department.

“This is a schedule indicating monthly collections in respect of all categories of revenue collected by the State department of Interior. This is extracted from individual monthly bank statements and the horizontal grand totals agree with the total amounts reflected at the end of each month’s bank statement,” Dr Kibicho said.

He told the committee that the statements had been analysed to indicate the class of revenue to which each credit entry relates.

Dr Kibicho said each individual accessing the portal for a service is given a unique identity and grouped into a particular batch, and that the total funds paid by the applicants in a batch are transferred in whole.