Nairobi, 29th August 2024
The Nairobi County Chief Officer for Revenue Administration and Ag. Chief Officer for ICT Infrastructure, Tiras Njoroge, has urged all heads of revenue streams and Sub-County Finance Officers to enhance their revenue collection efforts within their respective areas.
Speaking during the Revenue Administration’s weekly meeting held at CBK Pension Towers, Mr. Njoroge emphasized the necessity of expanding the customer base to meet the county’s revenue target of KES 20.06 billion. “We cannot rely solely on the same customers who paid revenue last financial year to meet this year’s targets. We must grow our customer database to not only meet but exceed our target,” he stated.
He highlighted the importance of a comprehensive registration of all businesses across Sub-Counties and Wards, which would improve visibility and streamline compliance messaging. “We are working to decentralize customer service to areas like Makadara and Dandora, as well as other Sub-Counties, by establishing fully-fledged customer service Centers. This will not only enhance customer service but also strengthen revenue mobilization, ensuring that during peak seasons, customers do not need to come to City Hall for services that are available closer to them.”
Mr. Njoroge urged the officers to take the meeting’s recommendations seriously and to ensure that all input is effectively implemented.
Acting CEO of Nairobi Revenue Authority and Director for Revenue Administration, Dr. John Ntoiti underscored the significance of the revenue weekly meetings in addressing challenges faced by various revenue streams. “These meetings are crucial for brainstorming and implementing strategies that will help us achieve our revenue targets. We must think outside the box and consider practical measures to ensure success.”
Dr. Ntoiti suggested several strategies to be applied across the revenue streams such as: –
- Land Rates; He proposed reinstating the task force for Operation Clamp Down and engaging professional debt collectors to assist with land rates collection. The head of the revenue stream was tasked with interrogating the sharp decline in land rates and improving on meeting their target.
- Parking: He expressed concern over the decline in on-street parking revenue and tasked the responsible team to ensure daily collections exceed Kshs 2.5 million.
- Unified Business Permit (UBP); Dr. Ntoiti shared plans to empower sub-county teams to increase the registration of new businesses in the system. He also emphasized the need to intensify activities to enroll more businesses, as the county prepares to launch a compliance and enforcement application to address undercharges of permits.
- Advertising: The Director noted the need to clean up data in the system and ensure that billing is done based on per structure rather than per occupancy.
- Food Handlers: The revenue department intends to procure an agency to collect revenue on behalf of the county to eliminate leakages, aiming to reach full revenue potential.
- Fire Inspection Certificates; Dr. Ntoiti called for better visibility of standalone fire inspection certificate fees, distinct from those under UBP, to improve revenue mobilization.
- House Rent: He emphasized the importance of cleaning data for clarity and enforcing payment of arrears by tenants.
- Debt Collection Unit: Dr. Ntoiti stressed the need for the unit to focus more on large taxpayers, including big corporations and government accounts, to boost revenue during this off-peak season.
Dr. Ntoiti also expressed concern over declining revenue from markets and urged the responsible team to develop radical strategies to meet their targets.
Additionally, he suggested exploring ways to capitalize on evening traders as an additional revenue source.
On a positive note, the Director applauded the Plans and Inspections (Building Permits) Revenue Team for their outstanding performance in revenue collection, recognizing them as the best performers during the lean season.
The meeting concluded with officers sharing more strategies to enhance revenue in their respective streams as well as discussing performance contracts and targets.
End/..