Govt Allows Kenyans To Make Marriage Applications From Their Phones

It will now be easier for couples intending to get married to make their marriage applications from wherever they are.

Speaking on Friday in Nakuru when he closed a workshop on the digitalization of services by National and County Governments on Friday, March 10, Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok stated that the Office of the Attorney General (AG) lessened the burden of legalising marriages by moving the process online.

This means that Kenyans intending to tie the knot can apply through the e-Citizen platform, which can also be accessible from any device supporting an internet connection, even a phone.

Immigration and Citizen Services PS Julius Bitok with some of the participants at the workshop on the digitization of government services in Nakuru. /CITIZEN DIGITAL

Before their union is ratified, applicants will be subjected to interviews upon completing the application process.

“One of the examples of services that have gone digital is marriages. If you want to get married, you can now apply for a marriage certificate from the comforts of your phone where you apply online, go for interviews and get your marriage certificate online,” Prof Bitok stated.

The marriage application was among the 5,318 services moved to the digital platform for ease of service delivery as promised by the Kenya Kwanza government.

The new process eliminates the headache of couples wishing to register their unions in terms of manually filing paperwork with the Registrar of Marriages at the Office of the Attorney General.

The Registrar of Marriages noted that the system had been pre-tested to ensure that there are no technical hiccups during the application process.

The 3-week meeting, which also involved onboarding the services on the e-Citizen platform, was also attended by digital services platforms providers and telecommunication firms.

While citing convenience as one of the key benefits of digitization, Prof. Bitok noted that the e-Citizen platform will also provide comparatively cheaper services by eliminating travel and time spent through physical visits to government offices.

“One of the key benefits of digitization is that it reduces the cost of services to citizens by the government. For example, instead of taking a matatu from point A to point B and paying 200 to go and the same amount to come back to get services, you can now access the services from the convenience of your phone,” said the PS.

The government is also hoping that the digitization drive will increase the around Ksh80 million daily eCitizen revenue collection by more than ten times to hit Ksh1 billion daily.

President William Ruto had directed the directorate of e-Citizen under the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services to ensure more than 5,000 services were migrated to digital platforms to ease access to government services.

A screenshot of the e-Citizen platform. /FILE