Nairobi News

Chapo madondo is a favoured option among Kenyan university students for its delightful taste, accessibility in any eatery, and, notably, its ability to provide swift satiation.

It combines chapati – an unleavened flat, lightly fried wheat bread, and stewed beans (madondo in slang).

This dish is also among the cheapest dishes sold within many campuses, as well as outside eateries.

As Kenya’s staple meal, Ugali, continues to experience fluctuating prices due to the cost of maize meal flour, chapati continues to become an alternative meal for many students, with some spending less than Sh 100 on this meal and calling it a day.

Now, at the University of Nairobi, which is headquartered in Nairobi County, students, popularly known as comrades for their bold statements against government operations that do not favour higher learning students, will no longer be able to shell out loose change and coins at their school canteens or vibandaski (local makeshift eateries) for chapo madondo.

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They will have to pay for this quick meal via eCitizen.

eCitizen is the official website through which anyone needing government services must first register, apply for the service they need, pay the relevant service fees and then proceed to the physical government offices related to their needs.

In its notice to students, the University of Nairobi told students that the shift to mobile payments via eCitizen is necessary following the Kenya Kwanza government’s mandate that all payments to the University be made via the platform.

“Complying with this directive, the University has established the required systems to enable clients to make payments through eCitizen,” explained the University.

Students will now be required to use Safaricom’s mobile money platform, M-Pesa, select the Lipa na M-Pesa’s Pay Bill option, use the Pay Bill number 222222 and enter the account number based on the kitchen outlet’s identifier name. They will then enter the amount they will pay for whatever meal they wish to eat, enter their PIN and press okay.

The University of Nairobi outlined 12 of its kitchens across campuses around the county and its metropolitan areas.

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They include Kitchen One next to Students Clinic, Women’s Hall Kitchen next to Nairobi Primary School, Mamlaka Kitchen along Mamlaka Road, Chiromo Kitchen at the Chiromo Campus, Parklands Kitchen at the Parklands Campus and Lower Kabete Kitchen at the Lower Kabete Campus.

Others are Upper Kabete Kitchen at the same campus, Kikuyu Kitchen at the Kikuyu Campus, Kenya Science Kitchen at the same campus, Kenyatta Medical School Kitchen at the Kenyatta National Hospital Campus, Comcare Cafe at the KNH Campus and Central Catering Unit at the main campus next to the Graduation Square in Nairobi’s Central Business District.

The move to use the Pay Bill number 222222, the official government pay bill number, aligns with President William Ruto’s order to have all government agencies use the Pay Bill number for “purposes of efficiency and no data is lost or grey areas.”

“There is a dedicated government pay channel, 222222. The expectation of the government is that all government revenue must now use the pay channel so that Treasury can have sight of every government service that is paid for. I am going to be making an announcement here that in the next 90 days, all other pay bills must be shut down because we have a problem with some of the PayBills that we cannot account for. We have close to over 1,000 PayBills some of which we don’t have sight of. They must now be closed,” said President Ruto last year.

The University of Nairobi is a body corporate that was established by an Act of Parliament Cap 210 of the laws of Kenya. It is a public university that is regulated by the government agency, Commission for Higher Education, and as such, it is subject to government policies- including the use of this pay bill number.