One of the main revenue streams for county government of Kitui, year in year out, has been charcoal and sand cess. It has now been proven beyond doubt that the county’s revenue performance, under Governor Ngilu’s administration will continue to shine without charcoal cess.
In the month of july 2018, for example, the County Treasury reported a total revenue collection of kshs 35,051,628 against a collection of kshs 24,210,454 reported in July 2017 which translates to an improvement of 44.8%.
For the month of August 2018, a total revenue collection of Kshs 23,469,110.25 was collected against a collection of the kshs 16,329,323 recorded in 2017 an improvement of 43.7 %.
The improved performance comes at a time when the county is at the initial stages of a revenue automation programme aimed at increasing efficiency and effectiveness in revenue collection and closing of revenue leakage loopholes associated with manual systems of revenue collection.
So far, the revenue system has been rolled out in Kitui and Mwingi towns and preparations are in top gear for rolling it in all other parts of the county.
Speaking in her office today morning, Mary Nguli, the County Treasury Executive directed revenue collectors, their supervisors and all officers dealing with revenue in the two major towns to ensure that all revenue receipts issued are from the system noting that no manual receipt should be issued for any payment to the county in the two towns. She further warned that any officer found with manual receipts will be dealt with accordingly as automated receipts were the only recognized receipts by the county. She urged members of the public to remain vigilant and report any cases of alternative receipts that may be issued to them.
Speaking on the same matter, Enoch Nguthu, the finance chief officer under whose Docket the programme falls said that the Ministry has done very well in that it has systematically dealt with all issues around automation including a successful completion of a data cleaning exercise for all revenue streams except for land rates data, a process that is still ongoing. He further reported that all the county revenue staff have been trained on the system and that further support is being provided as and when needed. “This is a beginning of a new way of doing things and a good break from the old manual systems and use of receipts that can be duplicated” said the chief officer.
More recently, the county launched the Kitui County Health Insurance Cover(kCHIC) through which all payments are being channeled directly to County Government Account through a paybill number 815815 thereby eliminating all possible cases of thefts and bringing revenue receipts directly under scrutiny and oversight of all concerned bodies. A similar move has also been replicated in the agriculture sector where everybody seeking ploughing services from county government tractors/machinery must pay for the services through a paybill number. This has enhanced transparency and accountability of revenue and eased the reporting requirements.
“ we are happy things are moving very well in the area of revenue collection. Anyone resisting automation will have no place in the county and hence the reason why we must retrain all. We are also happy for the guidance and support we have continued to receive from Her Excellency, she has been the champion and we shall not let Kitui people down. We will ensure we account for every penny collected” concluded the County Treasury CEC.
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