ministry to terminate mobile payment system deal with Kifya

The Ministry of Innovation and Technology plans to terminate their deal with Kifya Financial Technology Plc when this fiscal year ends.
Kifiya is the service provider for Lehulu, a one-stop electronic billing system for basic government services such as payment of electricity, water, and telecom bills or traffic fines. In the next six months their contract will sunset.
The ministry sent a circular to government offices to set up a user friendly payment system through banks.
“The intention of the Ministry is to make all payment systems user friendly so people can pay their bills using their mobile phones,” Tesfaye Alemnew, Media and Press Director told Capital.
The Ethiopian Electric Utility is partially switching its billing system by partnering with Commercial Bank to collect 27 thousand corporate customers.
“The utility is collecting information from individual household customers like their CBE bank accounts in order to deduct from their balance,” Melaku Taye Communication Director of EEU said.
‘Lehulu’ through a pioneering private-public-partnership (PPP) Kifiya Financial Technology has operated close to a million transactions a month in 32 branches.
Nowadays there are a number of options, the banking sector is trying to modernize and deliver such services in convenient locations so Kifya is not efficient enough to address the increasing number of the customers, according to Tesfaye.
Kifiya Financial Technology Plc was established in February 2010 by the founders who had over two decades of experience in information communication technology in Ethiopia.