Steve Umidha @Steve Umidha

The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) is mulling e-commerce business growth by tapping the National Payment Gateway System to pivot public payments in Kenya.

Through the adoption of e-commerce platforms,  Postmaster General of Postal Corporation of Kenya Dan Kagwe intends to keep loss making branches open, by partnering with the Ministry of Information to implement the National Addressing System and Kenya Transport and Logistics Network to transition into a paperless and cashless agency.

“We have seen our revenues dip, as mail volumes tumbled and private parcel delivery companies ate into our market share.

To improve our fortunes, we are now leveraging on the advent of digital globalisation through modern technologies and strategic partnerships,” Kagwe  said in a telephone interview.

E-commerce

A 2019 report by financial analysts at Citibank, if service providers invested in infrastructure, they could reap Kenya’s e-commerce market worth over Sh400 billion in the long term and between Sh70 billion and Sh120 billion in the short-to-medium term, presenting a lucrative revenue opportunity.

It noted that service providers need to facilitate payments and money transfers for the flourishing e-commerce market. This could help PCK ease out of irrelevance amid continued financial struggles in the last seven years.

Last year alone, the National Treasury paid a total sum of Sh 810million to Posta Kenya in a one off payment that was meant to cushion the corporation from the disruptions and shocks of the coronavirus pandemic.

Employees  endured three months without monthly salaries. Data from the Auditor General indicates PCK spends Sh2.2 billion salaries  annually.