Nairobi, 1st March 2024
Nairobi County Unified Business Permit (UBP) technical team led by County Chief Officer for Revenue Administration, Wilson Gakuya held a three day workshop with technical officers from revenue generating sectors with the aim of capturing their input on unified compliance, inspections and enforcement standard operating procedures (SOPs) drafted by the UBP technical team.
This is in line with a directive from H.E. the Governor on establishing a multi sectoral approach in compliance and enforcement.
Speaking at the launch of the workshop, Mr. Gakuya said “A city of order, dignity hope and opportunity for all is at the Heart of H.E the Governors’ manifesto. Towards achieving this, we must change how we treat our clients. Imagine one business entity being visited by different county teams on the same day but at different times. This chaotic approach is not tenable. In order to address this shortcoming, the county has adopted a structured and data driven approach where a multi sectoral team is involved in compliance and enforcement. To help achieve this, this workshop aims to develop and harmonize the county unified compliance and enforcement standard operating procedure.”
County Chief Officer for Smart Nairobi, Tiras Njoroge said “The work that we are doing here will make a difference, it is what is going to take us from what we are used to collecting to the next level”.
Mr. Njoroge shared that Nairobi City County’s’ electronic, Unified Business Permit (UBP) system recently won leader, Digital Innovation County Governments 2024 award in Mombasa.
The award was presented at the Landmark Transformation Public Sector (DTPS) forum and awards event hosted by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy in conjunction with Greydale Africa at White Sands Hotel, Mombasa.
The Unified Business Permit (UBP) is a streamlined permit that consolidates various licenses previously issued by Nairobi City County into a single permit. It replaces the need for multiple licenses and simplifies the process for businesses operating within Nairobi.
He said, “This has actually made waves in that we even had the Ministry of Industrialization reach out to find out how we developed the system. Our concept is well thought and executed, unlike other counties that claim to have unified permits. ”
He shared an example where, one boards a matatu on their way to open their business, apply online using a single platform for all the compliance permits required, and by the time one alights from the matatu, they have their UBP on their phone. “The digitization of this process also drives value through shared industrial information and insights that will be beneficial in understanding the Nairobi County business environment better,” he said.
He emphasized the need for Sectors to come together and share resources as they go out together to meet customers. “We are not going out there to fight, these are out esteemed customers, and we are giving them the dignity they deserve and that at the end of the day, they are making their difference as well” he stated.
County Director, Trade Licensing, Johnson Akong’o said “The Unified Business Permit technical team had earlier met and developed the UBP compliance and enforcement SOPs’ and when the County Chief Officers joined us, they came up with an idea that instead of developing the Unified Business Permit, SOPs’ and confining ourselves to UBP, we revise the SOPs to capture all other County revenue streams and that is why we are holding this workshop”.
The officers were taken through Nairobi County Unified compliance, inspection and enforcement guidelines, and first edition by Ag. Director Health Policy and Regulation, Michael Owuor.
Mr. Owuor stated that “Going forward, there is going to be order in Nairobi, a Nairobi where demand is created by the Government for better services, the service provider, provides the best for our citizens so that we have less of enforcement and more of an awareness creation, demand creation, demand in the market so that customers are able to access better services”.
He informed the officers that there should be no harassment from the government, rather, more information provision as per the constitution that clearly states that every individual has a right to access information that will help them make critical decisions.
Mr. Owuor said “The compliance is going to be Unified, a team that visits every facility will be known and visits tracked and where there are issues, they be resolved and we will have a built mechanism at each and every level to ensure there is customer satisfaction”.
Present were County Directors and technical officers from revenue generating sectors.
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