- “One of the factors that has led to the increased collection has come from the county health sector."
- Wanga termed the work being implemented in the hospitals a work in progress.
Image: GLADYS WANGA/TWITTER
Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga has explained how they have been able to increase revenue collection from Sh100 million to Sh800 million in one year.
Speaking on radio 47 on Wednesday, Wanga said by the end of the Financial year 2022-2023, they were able to collect a total of about Sh850 million.
“One of the factors that has led to the increased collection has come from the county health sector. Our hospitals had to step up in terms of offering services that were not being offered before,’’ Wanga said.
Wanga termed the work being implemented in the hospitals a work in progress. She said there have been tremendous milestones since she came into the office, especially in the health sector.
"The progress and efforts are evident when one visits some of the county health facilities," she said.
She said referral hospitals in Homa Bay County are now able to issue prescribed drugs to patients from within the facilities unlike before when there was a tendency to recommend purchase from outside.
“We passed a revenue administration law, finance act law, and also revenue board law whose role from dusk to dawn is to counter check the revenue,” she said.
The county boss further emphasised that the revenue issue was a collective duty and everyone was responsible for ensuring all the set targets were achieved.
She said they had to initiate a cashless way of ensuring the funds are transacted via mobile phones to avoid any temptation of misappropriating the funds and for accountability purposes.
Wanga hinted that these moves are key to ensuring effective revenue collection in the county.
According to the financial report released by the Office Of The Controller Of Budget, Homa Bay County in the FY 2022/23, the county generated Sh491.50 million from its source revenue and health Sector Appropriation in Aid (AIA).
This amount represented an increase of 45.7 per cent compared to Sh337.40 million realised in FY 2021/22.
The amount comprises Sh258.69 million as Health Sector Appropriation in Aid (AIA) and Sh232.81 million from other streams of own sources of revenue.
The AIA was 43.4 per cent of the AIA annual target, while the own source revenue was 104.6 per cent of its annual target.
The actual receipts from the own source revenue and Health Sector AIA accounted for 6.3 per cent of the equitable revenue share disbursed.