Advertisement
Govt suffers another setback in bid to force parents to pay school fees through e-Citizen
21st November, 2025 06:13 PM
The government has suffered a blow after the Nairobi Court of Appeal declined to issue a stay of execution of the decision and orders of the High Court that blocked the government from imposing the directives issued to parents to pay school fees through e-citizen.
On April 1, 2025, Milimani High Court Judge Chacha Mwita ruled that payment of school fees through e-citizen is unconstitutional.
In his ruling, Justice Mwita stated that there was no public participation exercise carried on before the directive was issued.
Further, he stated that school fees are not government revenue, and therefore, they are not to be collected through the e-citizen platform.
Unconstitutional directive
“The declaration is hereby issued by the directive that parents pay school fees or any levies to government institutions of learning through e-citizen was done without public participation or stakeholders’ engagement, and it is unconstitutional and illegal, and therefore null and void,” Justice Mwita ruled.
He also issued an order quashing the letter of circular letter of January 31, 2024, by the Principal Secretary directing national school principals that parents should pay school fees through the e-citizen payment platform.
Additionally, Mwita issued an order prohibiting the Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS), Education and Information CS and Digital Economy CS, or any of their agents, from enforcing the convenience fee of Ksh50 or any other amount paid through the e-citizen platform.
“The court prohibits the Cabinet Secretaries of Treasury, Information Communication and Digital Economy and of the Ministry of Education, either by themselves, their agents, servants or any person acting on their behalf, from charging a convenience fee or transaction fee of Ksh50 or any other amount per transaction paid through the e-citizen payment platform or giving effect to the letter dated January 31, 2024,” Judge Mwita ruled.
Aggrieved by the ruling, the CS Treasury, CS Information Communication and Digital Economy, Education CS and Attorney General (AG) moved to the Court of Appeal seeking orders to stay execution of Judge Mwita’s orders.
No concrete evidence
In a judgement delivered by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Daniel Musinga, Justice Francis Tuiyott and Lady Justice Pauline Nyamweya on Friday, November 21, 2025, it was stated that the applicants (CS Treasury, CS ICDE, CS Education and AG) have not provided concrete evidence of any imminent termination of service contracts by the respective providers.
Further, they aver that the alleged threat of system disruption remains speculative and is unsupported by verifiable proof that suppliers would withdraw services immediately upon non-payment.
Declining to stay the execution of the orders issued by the High Court, the judges argued that the funds collected from the parents through the e-citizen platform charges may not be refunded to them if the appeal later fails.
“The sums collected under the impugned fee are substantial and accrue daily from citizens. Therefore, if a stay were to be granted and the appeal later fails, those funds may not be recoverable, thus creating a greater risk of prejudice to the public,” the judges ruled.
