The Kenyan government has ambitious plans to strengthen its digital service provision, and it is adopting the latest technologies and solutions that foster citizen engagement through direct interactions with internal government processes and systems.
On June 30, 2023, President William Ruto said digitization will enhance efficiency and inclusivity in service delivery.
He was speaking during the launch of a centralized mobile payment channel for all government services as part of its Digital Government Strategy aimed at delivering better services to Kenyans.
Since that day, the national government has been using one pay bill number – 222222 – for all of its over 5,000 services available online on the revamped e-Citizen platform, govt USSD code *2222#, and Gava Express and according to President Ruto, this will promote transparent e-service delivery and accountability as it reduces the opportunities for corruption in the public sector.
Some government services have fully transitioned online to accept this electronic payment method, and one such entity is the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
Through a public notice, members of this national health coverage were instructed to make payments only via the new govt paybill number as per that Presidential directive issued in June and the Kenya Gazette No. 16008 of 2022.
“All NHIF payments through mobile money platforms shall only be made through the Government Pay bill Number 222222.”
Further, they were issued special codes as account names or numbers to input after the paybill instruction on their phones to make a successful NHIF payment;
| NHIF payment type | New account name/number | How to use (examples) |
| Employer contribution | NHIFE-(eSlip number) | NHIFE-123456XXX |
| Employer penalty | NHIFEP-(Employer code) | NHIFEP-1234 |
| Member contribution | NHIFM-(ID number) | NHIFM-1234567 |
| Member penalty | NHIFP-(ID number) | NHIFP-1234567 |
It works when making payments using Mpesa, Airtel Money of Telkom’s T-Kash.
