Kisumu: Kisumu City Manager Abala Wanga has unveiled an ambitious plan to collect Sh1.4 billion in revenue within five months. This follows the city’s recent acquisition of four key functions from the County Executive to address on-source revenue gaps. Speaking during a sensitisation meeting for revenue officers and enforcement officers, Wanga said the new measures aim to seal revenue leaks, enforce compliance, and improve accountability in tax collection.
According to Kenya News Agency, the key revenue collection streams transferred to the city include land rates, outdoor advertising, single business permits, and physical development and building approvals. This will see the city management take charge of the four revenue streams in the 14 wards within the municipality area as the county government moves to scale up on-source revenue collection. Wanga mentioned that the team targets to raise Sh1.4 billion by the end of this financial year with plans underway to raise the target higher in the next financial year.
Focus, he said, was on land rates, where property owners in the lakeside city owe the county government Sh7 billion. The defaulters, he said, would be issued invoices to pay the arrears, failing which the city management will institute measures to recover the money. He added that the city management has revoked permits for all outdoor advertising firms within the city’s jurisdiction, a move aimed at streamlining the sector to shore up revenue.
Wanga stated that those owning billboards or any outdoor advertisements are now required to apply afresh, with the city aiming to go digital and target Sh300 million from approved firms. Enforcement officers, he added, shall not harass anyone but will issue invoices and summon those who fail to comply within the stipulated time. Harassment, he said, was a ploy by revenue and enforcement officers to collect bribes, thus denying the county government the much-needed revenue.
The city administration, he said, will use environment officers spread across the 14 wards to distribute the invoices and look out for non-compliant establishments. County Executive Committee Member (CECM) in charge of Finance and Economic Planning, George Okong’o, said the move to transfer the functions to the city administration targets to have a one-stop shop for revenue collection to enhance efficiency. He noted that the biggest problem faced was having different channels to collect this revenue, thus failing to reach targets.
