Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has admitted that corruption and forgery are among challenges faced in the collection of revenue in the county.
According to the Governor, city residents of Nairobi have been victims of issuance of fake licenses and business permits which have hindered them not to pay taxes to the county.
"Yes, there is corruption in some sectors like markets and liquor board who have been accused of issuing fake licenses to Nairobians. As a result since 2014, the county has failed to meet its own set targets. Taxes are paid to impostors and do not find their way to the county. This automatically affects the revenue performance," Sonko said yesterday at an interview in a local radio station.
It has been noted that since 2014, the county has failed to meet its own set targets.
In March this year, it was revealed that due to weak reinforcement, City Hall has been loosing over Sh400 million worth revenue from over 43 markets in the city.
It was further highlighted that some payments are still done to the county using the cash-in-hand method despite Governor Sonko's announcement that City Hall is running cashless system.
Sonko urged the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to join him in fighting corruption cases in affecting the revenue collection.
County Executive for Environment Vesca Kangogo said that despite the challenges of revenue, the last Financial year the revenue had improved by Sh139.01 million where Sh10.17 billion was collected against a target of Sh15. 29 billion.
In the FY 2017-18, the revenue collected was Sh10.25 billion against a target of Sh17. 23 billion.
Vesca noted that the transition from Jambo Pay to the county collecting its own revenue had an effect on the revenue performance.
'After we parted ways with Jambo Pay this year in June, the county had to adjust to the new Internal Revenue Management System and we are optimistic that we shall have better revenue collection this year," she said.
Kangogo also stated that the county has had challenges on implementing the budget because of the delay that was caused by the disagreement between the Senate and the National Assembly on the Division of Revenue Bill, 2019.
In addition, residents of Nairobi have been urged to support the county in raising its revenue by paying taxes as per the revised Finance Bill.
"I know we have challenges of enforcement but we also ask city residents to support and pay the required revised Finance Bill, 2019," she said.
