eCitizen announces temporary shutdown of payment services on Saturday

Kenyans planning to pay for government services through the eCitizen platform this weekend will have to make arrangements in advance after the government announced a temporary shutdown of payment services to allow for a major system upgrade.

In a public notice, the Directorate of eCitizen Services said the platform would undergo scheduled maintenance on Saturday, July 18, 2026, affecting all payment functions for five hours.

According to the notice, the maintenance exercise will begin at 7:00 p.m. and run until midnight.

“The Directorate of eCitizen Services wishes to notify all users of the eCitizen platform that there will be a scheduled system maintenance on Saturday, 18th July 2026, from 7:00 PM to 12:00 midnight,” the notice read.

The agency explained that while users may still be able to access some parts of the platform, all payment services will be temporarily unavailable during the maintenance window.

This means Kenyans seeking to make payments for services such as passport applications, business registration, driving licence-related services, permits, and other government services offered through the portal may need to complete their transactions before the scheduled downtime.

The Directorate said the maintenance is part of efforts to strengthen the platform’s payment systems and improve user experience.

“The maintenance is necessary to facilitate an upgrade of the eCitizen payment gateway, as part of ongoing efforts to enhance service delivery on the platform,” the notice stated.

The upgrade comes at a time when eCitizen has become a central platform for accessing government services in Kenya, with thousands of services now available online to individuals, businesses, and institutions.

The platform supports applications, payments, and tracking of government services from different ministries, departments, and agencies.

It currently hosts more than 16,000 services online, making it one of the country’s most important digital public service platforms.