Murang'a doubles revenue collection after piloting of digital system

Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata has hailed the digital revenue collection system launched last month for drastically increasing the revenue collected across the county.

The system, Kang’ata has said, has proven to be successful and will ensure the county government achieves its targets.

The digital revenue collection system is being used to collect revenue in parking lots within Murang’a town, the county referral hospital, Mukuyu and Maragua markets and in quarries.

At Murang’a County Referral Hospital, the revenue collected has increased from Sh70,000 to over Sh150,000 daily.

Parking fees collection has doubled from Sh35,000 within Murang’a town to over Sh70,000 daily.

In Kandundu quarry that is near Murang’a town, the revenue collected has increased to Sh50,000 daily from about Sh20,000 that was previously collected.

The governor said the increase in revenue collected is an indication that the automation has helped to seal loopholes that were previously used to siphon funds by workers.

Following the success, Kang’ata announced that the county administration will roll out automation of all its systems in a few weeks.

“This system will help us achieve our revenue targets and ensure there is enough funds for our operations. It will counter pilferage of public resources and boost our revenue,” he said.

With the manual systems, only about Sh50 million was collected monthly with county workers accused of using fake receipts to charge fees and pocket the money.

The county has over 400 staffers distributed across the eight subcounties, making it hard to monitor their activities but with the automation, they are denied access to cash and will only play a supervisory role of ensuring individuals pay the necessary fees.

Kang’ata said his aim is to ensure the county collects over Sh200 million each month which he said will ensure residents get more services.

He asked the county assembly to approve the supplementary budget to enable him implement projects that he pledged during his campaigns.

He also revealed his administration has started a feeding programme that will see all ECDE pupils provided with porridge.

“We are piloting the programme in six wards and expect to fully roll it out by January next year after the assembly passes the supplementary budget.”

Among his flagship programmes is the free NHIF registration for poor homes that will enable them to access health care.

The governor plans to cover at least 30,000 households by the end of this year, consuming about Sh180 million annually.

He urged MCAs to pass a policy that provides for the programme that he said will eradicate the need for residents to fund-raise to clear medical bills and boost their productivity.

The NHIF card will be improved to include optical and dental services.

-Edited by SKanyara