Nairobi News

HashtagHustle

City Hall’s data centre lying idle years after launch by Uhuru


Nairobi county government has admitted that it needs more time to develop its own digital revenue collection system because the data centre meant to host it still lacks key applications for operations.

Nairobi county E-government chief officer Peter Mukenya said the Sh1.3 billion data centre lacks a smart network license and visualization software to enable it start operating.

The data centre has been lying idle since launch by President Uhuru Kenyatta in December 2017.

“For us to have our own revenue collection system the data centre has to be ready. It has been idle for long and therefore its software needs to be upgraded to the latest version for it to work.

“However, we are in the process of acquiring a smart network license and installing key components,” said Mr Mukenya while appearing before Nairobi County Budget committee on Thursday.

The latest contract extension for JamboPay, City Hall’s contracted revenue collector, is set to come to an end in June 7, 2019.

Mr Mukenya explained that once the data centre is ready, without giving a specific date, JamboPay’s system would be fully transferred to it.

“We have been working together in a committee that also consists of JamboPay in the transfer process and once this data centre is up and running we will be able to manage the collection of our own revenue,” he said.

City Hall currently relies on the Local Authority Integrated Financial Operations Management System (LAIFOMS) and systems provided by electronic payment firm JamboPay for revenue collection.

The data centre was designed in order to replace LAIFOMS which has been termed as aged and inefficient which the county is set to phase out in the next two months after advertising for a replacement.