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Sonko targets Sh1.7bn revenue by month end

By NATION TEAM February 20th, 2018 2 min read

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko targets to raise more than Sh1.7 billion revenue by the end of this month, to surpass Sh1.63 billion the county raised last month.

The county boss said City hall had already collected “an impressive Sh903 million.”

Mr Sonko said his administration had put in place ‘elaborate structures to remove bottlenecks’ that frustrated efforts by the previous administration to collect revenues.

He said under his administration, the county government has recorded an increase in daily revenue from less than Sh10 to Sh70 million.

‘OPTIMISTIC’

“I am optimistic we will surpass the Sh1.7 billion mark. We have sealed all corruption loopholes,” he added.

He assured the residents that his administration will release monthly revenue data as a measure to transparency and accountability.

According to the revenue report, Nairobi county government collected Sh1, 631,186,109 in January with business licenses listed as major revenue earner at Sh512, 478,990 followed by Land Rates at Sh306, 105,734.25.

Parking fees raked in Sh140, 718,975 and the fire department issued fire permits worth Sh115, 776,500, construction permits brought in Sh61, 851,515 with Sh49, 782,642 collected as rental income. Other top contributors included market rents, advertisements and liqour licenses.

LOSING MILLIONS

Meanwhile, the county still loses millions of shillings in revenue every month due to recurrent network fluctuations, power outages and weak enforcement mechanisms by the county staff.

Jambo Pay was contracted by City Hall to collect revenue on its behalf and automate all its revenue streams.

The firm’s chief executive Danson Muchemi said that on average internet outage occurs three days in a week leading to loss in revenue.

“Internet disruptions usually affect our system and when the systems are down you cannot check on who has paid and who still owes the county revenue. It also hinders officers at city hall from issuing instant receipts to clients,” Mr Muchemi said.

This comes after a section of Nairobi Ward Reps called for removal of Jambo pay cashiers at City Hall blaming them for drop in the revenue collected.