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Did you know Marikiti market generated Sh130m for City Hall? Money puzzle continues


The City Hall revenue collection puzzle has deepened with revelations that the 51 collection points whose haul is received directly by the county may have generated more in the financial year ending June 30 than captured in official records.

Unlike the 85 revenue streams that are handled by JamboPay, a digital platform operated by Web Tribe Kenya, the 51 collection points are still handled by City Hall directly through its Laifoms (Local Authority Integrated Financial Operations Management System).

According to county projections, Marikiti market alone generated about Sh130 million, raising questions as to whether the remaining 50 streams generated only Sh240 million that has been flagged off as the difference between JamboPay and county reported collections.

City Hall data indicates that Marikiti, alongside another un-named market, contributed Sh260 million, which is more than the Sh240 million, raising questions on the amount the other 49 streams raised in the year. In the 2017/18 financial year, JamboPay reported Sh9.86 billion or 80 per cent of the county revenue.

RECONCILE FIGURES

Officials, however, asked for more time to reconcile the figures.

“We have one officer who is reconciling the records between Laifoms and JamboPay on daily basis. However, there is a need for more officers to enable us do deeper reconciliation that we are able to say this is the revenue collected in a way we are confident and accurate about the process,” Ms Agnes Kisaka, the county head of revenue, said.

The county reported a collection of Sh10.1 billion for 2017/18 while JamboPay reported Sh9.86 billion. That raises questions as to whether the Sh240 million is all City Hall collected outside the electronic billing system.

Ms Kisaka spoke last week, when she appeared before the Finance and Budget Committe to shed light on the conflicting revenue figures.

She added that the county has a dashboard where it can see the reports by JamboPay, but has no way of verifying the accuracy of the figures because there is no administrator in charge of the system.

The committee headed by Peter Mbatia directed the revenue department to provide details on the amount collected by each stream.