President William Ruto has vowed to push forward with his reforms in various sectors despite facing opposition, especially in scrapping liquid cash transactions.
Speaking during the launch of the Strategic Framework for the Implementation of reforms in the National Police Service (NPS), Kenya Prisons Service (KPS) and the National Youth Service (NYS) on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, the Head of State indicated that some officials are resisting the push to scrap cash in government transactions.
However, Ruto boldly told the government officials who attended the launch that the move to digitise every government service and transaction is unstoppable.
“We must stop the culture of dealing with cash. We have moved away and shortly we will have a government that does not engage in the business of cash.
“I know there is resistance in some quarters, but we will make sure that we can drive reforms and efficiency in this sector. We have leveraged technology to make sure have better outcomes in the management of our security,” Ruto stated.
As part of the reforms, Ruto indicated that police should cease collecting cash for every fine imposed on any offender.
Occurrence Book (OB)
At the same time, Ruto directed the police to do away with the legendary Occurrence Book (OB) and replace it with a digital record which cannot be tampered with.
“The legendary OB must be in digital form so that if a Kenyan has been booked for whatever reason, it must be documented in a manner that cannot be tampered with,” he stated.
He said he was aware of the process that was started to digitise this, among other services.
On June 30, 2023, President Ruto launched the digitisation programme. He indicated that the system would eliminate inefficiency, corruption, wastage and discrimination that is inherent in human interactions.
He noted that previously marginalised communities will no longer be excluded from government services.
President Ruto said then that the services would also be available on the e-Citizen platform’s USSD code *2222# and Gava Express.
“Gava Express will be available in more than 250,000 M-Pesa shops, 28,000 KCB shops, 40,000 Equity shops and 22,000 Cooperative Bank shops to serve those without smartphones,” he explained.
Further, Ruto disclosed that the government will use a single Pay Bill 222 222, which the Treasury will manage.
