The Nairobi government still loses millions of shillings in revenue every year due to weak enforcement and corrupt officers.
This was revealed on Thursday by JamboPay executive officer Danson Muchemi whose company the county contracted to provide the service.
Muchemi disclosed that enforcement has been wanting despite the system's relay of real-time information on compliance to relevant county officers.
“In parking, for instance, this system shows which vehicle is parked on which street, the name of the parking attendant on that particular street and whether or not the vehicle has been paid for,” Muchemi told the
county assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee.
He faced the committee led by Robert Mbatia alongside county secretary Peter Kariuki, finance executive Allan Igambi, head of internal audit Edward Gichana and head of county revenue Bernard Njihia.
The MCAs want to establish why the county’s revenue performance has been dwindling despite an increase in some levies and automation of all the 178 revenue streams.
Minority chief whip and Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok noted that Nairobi still collects an average of Sh2.8 million per day from parking, compared to the Sh2.5 million average before automation and increase of daily parking fees from Sh140 to Sh300.
“I want to know if the county is getting value for money by automating these services because we are still using the same officers we have been complaining are corrupt,” Imwatok said.
Muchemi sought to clear his firm with the argument that all parking attendants have been provided with gadgets to query and clamp non-compliant vehicles.
Mbatia asked him if he has officially complained to the county about the laxity in compliance. He provided a letter he claimed to have written to Governor Mike Sonko urging him to ensure officers clamp non-compliant vehicles.
Njihia informed the committee that the collections “have not significantly” increased even with the automation that was to eliminate leakages associated with the manual system and increase collections.
Kariuki said they had been filing a report on financial management – revenue collection and expenditure – since 2013.
This, he said, will inform the county on the policy framework to strengthen systems.
In the last financial year, the county collected Sh9.8 billion through the automated system, compared to Sh7 billion the year before. JamboPay was contracted in April 2014 for five years.
According to the 2018-19 county fiscal strategy paper, Nairobi has not hit its revenue target since 2013.
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