Govt Explains Why eCitizen Crashed, Leaving Hundreds Stranded

The government through the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services has revealed the cause of the malfunction of the eCitizen platform earlier on Friday, January 3, leaving scores of Kenyans relying on it stranded.

In a statement sent to Viral Tea, the State Department attributed this malfunction to an internal network issue that affected normal access to services, an issue that has since been addressed by its technical teams.

"We would like to notify our clients and the general public that early today, our online platform experienced hitches that affected the normal access to our services. The hitch was occasioned by an internal network occurrence that affected our operating system," the statement read in part.

"Our technical teams have since successfully resolved the problem and restored normal operations."

A collage of tourist vehicles stranded at the entrance of Nairobi National Park on January 3, 2024. /ASMALI

The department further expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to its clients, though appreciated their patience and support while resolving the disruption. "We assure them of our commitment to provide convenient, reliable and accessible government services," added the immigration department.

Earlier, Kenyans online shared their frustrations following the unavailability of the critical system. Tourists including those visiting Nairobi National Park were left stranded after facing significant challenges due to the malfunction of the eCitizen platform. 

Following the directive requiring all government services to be paid through the eCitizen platform, including park entry fees, the platform failed to process transactions. This left visitors forced to wait for hours at the main gate as the eCitizen platform crashed, with many taking to social media to complain about the delays.

The situation led to long queues of tourist vehicles and frustration among visitors who were unable to gain access to the park.

The issue even affected services at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), which moved to provide alternative payment options following the outage. In its notice, KRA advised users to utilize bank payment options or Point of Sale (PDQ) machines for their transactions to avoid delays. 

This is not the first time eCitizen has had issues, especially in the tourism sector. On October 10, 2024, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano took it upon herself to address the challenges faced by Kenyans in accessing eCitizen services, especially while paying to access national parks and game reserves across the country.

Miano was responding to woes that hit German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth on the eCitizen issue after he lamented being stranded at the entrance of the Watamu Marine National Park in Kilifi County.

Groth shared a photo of himself outside the ticketing office of the park which he expressed fondness of because of snorkelling tours, but challenges in paying for tickets via eCitizen, according to him, have been a pain in the neck.

"I really like Watamu Marine Park for a nice snorkelling tour. But getting the ticket via eCitizen is more difficult than seeing the big fish," Groth remarked on X, to which Miano responded "Happy Mazingira Day, ambassador. I will take up this to ensure the difficulty is resolved. eCitizen is supposed to be efficient and speedy. Thank you for your feedback."

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) previously stated that park entries shall be made through the eCitizen platform.

German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth (inset) and ticket office at Watamu Marine Park. /ADEN DUALE.SEBASTIAN GROTH (X)