REVENUE COLLECTION ADVERSELY HIT BY COVID-19, SAYS GOVERNOR OPARANYA

Governor Dr Wycliffe Oparanya has revealed that the County did not meet revenue targets due to Covid-19 pandemic.

He said most of the revenue streams including markets and bars were closed affecting revenue collection in the County.

“Last year we were targeting to collect Sh2 billion but we did not attain that because of the pandemic,” he explained.

He added: “Public hospitals are our major source of revenue but we did not collect much because patients were not seeking medication at the facilities.”

He noted that implementation of development projects was adversely affected by poor revenue collection.

Speaking during a meeting with a team from National Bank of Kenya who paid him a courtesy call in his office, the Governor said introduction of cashless system helped to curb corruption and improve on revenue.

“One area we want to digitize it is construction approvals and land rates so that we can improve on revenue collection in these areas,” he said.

The Governor said the County Governments have not received funds from National Treasury since December last year.

“We have not received funds from the National Treasury since December and this has affected service delivery at the County,” he said adding that relying on national revenue is soo erratic because you dont know when the money will be disbursed. Local revenue is very important to a devolved unit and that is why we are putting more emphasis on upping our revenue collection.

Dr Beatrice Sabana CECM for Finance, Economic Planning and ICT said implementing online revenue collection for land rates and construction approvals will boost revenue collection in the County.

Mr Eugene Wamalwa Chief officer for ICT, Madam Beatrice Memo Chief Revenue Administrator, Mr Stephen Oyigo National Bank of Kenya Regional Manager Western among others were present.