Murang’a county government has hit a milestone after its own source revenue for the 2023/2024 financial year hit the Sh1 billion target.
This is despite the fact the county administration has not added any extra charges and has been working with taxes last increased in 2018.
The county government has doubled its revenue collection from Sh562 million last year in a breakthrough that has been attributed to the digitisation of revenue collection systems.
County Executive Committee Member for finance Kiarie Mwaura confirmed that the county government automated its revenue collection systems in September 2022.
Previously, taxes and levies were collected manually, creating loopholes that were used by some county officials to steal.
“In the previous system, we had all the taxes collected manually and this was a major loophole where money was being lost but now all payments are being done electronically,” he said.
The county has established a software for mobile phone payments that allows residents to pay for services at their comfort.
Mwaura who spoke in his office in Murang’a town, noted that the health department led with Sh360 million, up from Sh240 million collected last year.
Murang’a General Hospital that previously collected about Sh70,000 per day, has been able to up its revenue to up to Sh400,000 and patients don’t have to carry a card to access treatment as is common in health facilities.
When a patient gives out their name and identity card number, information on their previous treatments can be retrieved from a computer.
The patient also receives a text message on the mobile phone indicating their medical history with the automation allowing the county administration to track the number of patients visiting the facility and the movement of drugs.
The CEC said the funds have been injected into development projects that included the Smart Cities programme that upgrades shopping centres, Kang’ata Care that provides health insurance to about 40,000 residents and Uji programme that feeds 42,000 ECDE learners everyday among others.
“It is our plan to continue improving our structures to collect more revenue and effect more development,” he said.
A report by the controller of budget showed the county’s own source revenue increased by 37 per cent from Sh453.57 million to Sh716.44 million in the first nine months of the current financial year.
Mwaura said the devolved unit’s aims to further increase the revenue in the 2024/2025 financial year to Sh1.5 billion without imposing more taxes.