State seeks to boost revenue collection in 4 counties

 

PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | FILE The Treasury building in Nairobi.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary
The study is expected to be done within six months
Other counties have been calling for increased allocation from the current 32 per cent to 40 per cent to enable them meet their development goals

 By Nation Correspondent
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The government intends to carry out a study with the objective of improving revenue collection in four counties.

It has invited consultant services, through funds provided by the World Bank under the Nairobi Metropolitan Services Improvement Project, to undertake the study that will seek to improve revenue collection on traditional sources and find new revenue streams in the counties. The study is expected to be done within six months.

The four counties – Kiambu, Machakos, Kajiado and Muranga – are said to have widely different characteristics on population density, land mass, urbanisation, economic and commercial activities.

CONCERNS

The study comes at a time when some of the counties have expressed concerns that the low revenue base could negatively affect their service delivery to the residents.

Kiambu governor William Kabogo last month raised concern that the county had inherited a wage bill of Sh5.8 billion against a government allocation of Sh6.2 billion, leaving only Sh400 million for development. Other counties have been calling for increased allocation from the current 32 per cent to 40 per cent to enable them meet their development goals.

According to an advertisement in the Daily Nation on Tuesday the government, through the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, has invited tenders for expression of interest for the consultants to undertake the study.