Nairobi legislators want KRA to reveal county revenue

Nairobi ward reps want Kenya Revenue Authority to give evidence of revenue collected.

The MCAs claim they have not received any report from the taxman regarding the collection since they took over in March last year.

Deputy Minority Whip Moses Ogeto has sought for a statement from the chairperson of the Select Committee on Finance and Budget& Appropriations committee regarding the revenue.

KRA commenced revenue collection for Nairobi county government in line with the gazzette Notice No.1609 of February 25, 2020 under Article 5.5 of the Deed of Transfer which appointed KRA as the Principal Revenue Collector.

KRA was officially appointed the principal county revenue collector on March 16, 2020.

The taxman was tasked with improving the county revenue collection. Since the advent of devolution, City Hall has hardly collected Sh10 billion annually.

KRA took over from JamboPay, which City Hall had contracted in 2014.

Ogeto said the gazzette notice provided KRA officers with full and unlimited access to the county government revenue processes, information and systems.

This included and was not limited to records and documents necessary for the effective execution of its mandate.

Ogeto who is also Kilimani ward representative wants the chairperson of the budget committee to inquire and report on the total monthly revenue collected by KRA for the period commencing March 2020.

In addition, the committee should also report with evidence of receipts to the County Revenue Fund from all revenue streams managed by the taxman.

This is not the first time the city reps are raising concerns about the revenue collection by KRA.

In June, the legislators accused KRA of failing to improve the county's own-source revenues since taking over as the principal collector.

A section of MCAs said there has not been any change since KRA took over noting that in fact, the revenue collection has dipped.

According to the Revenue Analysis data seen by the Star and noting that it was the first full year of KRA being in charge of the collection, Sh9.7 billion was collected in the Financial Year that ended on June 30.

This was a slight improvement compared to Sh8.5billion that was collected in the FY 2019-20 against a target of Sh17.31 billion, the lowest collection ever since devolution.

This is a pale shadow of its predecessors Jambo Pay, between 2014 and 2019 and the National Bank in 2019-20 where the collection was above Sh10 billion.

However, this was attributed to the fact that many businesses in Nairobi had been greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Responding to the statement, the Budget Committee chairperson Robert Mbatia requested for two weeks as the house proceeded to a one week recess.

“I wish to request we be given time to report back on the issue after the house resumes,” he said.

Ogeto explained that the reason why he sought the statement was so that Nairobi residents would have knowledge of what is being collected by the taxman.

“We need to know from the horse’s mouth as county officers at City Hall are unable to know the daily revenue collection and what amount is being swapped to the county revenue fund,” he said.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)