Motorists in Nairobi are in a dilemma over parking fees.
If they pay for the service using City Hall's short code *235#, their vehicles might be clamped by KRA, the revenue collector for the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
The same case applies if they use NMS's short code *647#. This time the clamping authorities will be county askaris.
Those who do not want to find themselves in this situation double pay the Sh200 fees using both short codes for parking in the central business district.
Motorists whose vehicles are clamped pay a penalty of Sh2,000. The confusion is all about power play between Governor Mike Sonko and the NMS.
Sonko’s spokesman Ben Mulwa on Monday told the Star that City Hall’s short code *235# is functional and that NMS had no mandate to introduce a new code.
“I can confirm that the short code *235# is working and once the money is paid, it is channelled to the county’s revenue account. NMS has no right to create their own codes,” Mulwa said.
Last year in September, City Hall automated payment for parking using short code *235#. The revenue collector was Jambopay, whose contract has since been terminated.
On July 31, the NMS introduced shortcode *647# to replace *235# and parking fee collection became the responsibility of the Kenya Revenue Authority.
KRA was on March 16 appointed NMS principal revenue collector after the Deed of Transfer of core functions from the county government to the national government.
City Hall has hardly collected Sh10 billion annually since devolution. In 2019-2020, Nairobi collected a paltry Sh8.3 billion against a target of Sh17.5 billion.
Parking is among the biggest contributors to Nairobi’s own-source revenue. It raised Sh1.54 billion against a target of Sh2.76 billion in 2019-2020 financial year.
As of May last year, the city had 12,000 parking slots, 6,125 on-street and 3,029 off-street. There are 1,601 loading zones and 1,145 private parking slots. Some 100 slots are allotted to the county staff.
The new payment platform followed the introduction of the Nairobi Revenue System by KRA to replace the six-year-old Local Authority Integrated Financial Management System (Laifoms).
“Nairobi county is now unified under *647#. Dial and access a one-stop platform for all your service delivery needs ranging from property management, land rates payments, market fees payment and parking fees payments," the NMS announced in an advert.
Any challenges encountered were to be reported through mobile number 0709014747.
City Hall had in 2014-2019 automated 139 revenue streams through Jambopay. They included parking, rates, single business permits, fire inspection certificates, billboards advertisements and food handlers’ certificates.
- mwaniki fm