Kiambu County lauds Strathmore’s IT solution

County ICT Director Douglas Njiraini

Kiambu County government has praised its partnership with Strathmore University on revenue collection automation, saying the deal had contributed to success of financial reforms being witnessed in the county.

The county, which was among the first devolved units to carry out an extensive end to end automation for its revenue collection processes had stellar performance in revenue collection.

County ICT Director Douglas Njiraini said revenue collections increased 60 per cent this year compared to a similar period last year, partly attributing the growth to automation of the system by Strathmore.

devolved units

A report released by CRA that reviewed 2015 indicated that Kiambu was among top five devolved units that made great improvements in revenue collection. “Strathmore University carried out extensive research in the county on how we have collected revenue, gave us a raft of recommendations before deploying our new County Pro System that is helping seal loop holes,” he said.

“It has helped us improve decision making and modernise revenue collection. This has given the county agility in finance.”

He said huge benefits came from the fact that the web based system allows people to pay online, through the new Kiambu Huduma Card and at its sub-county banking halls.

Someone travelling or in the diaspora can, for instance, log in and their pay the land rates, licenses or any other rates via a range of payment methods made possible by the system.

The system supplied by @iLabAfrican IT Research centre of Strathmore University features other web based tools for analysis and reporting, hence providing critical business intelligence to county leaders.

County Deputy Revenue Director Henry Waweru said the system had presented the revenue office with a platform to reduced seepage of funds at the collectors’ level through use of QR coded receipts that can be verified by county inspectors.

“We had no idea we could get such a solution locally. The system provides prompt reports on funds coming in, shows where revenue is coming from and details specific performance on revenue sources. We are able to project and it is a big boost to supervision,” he said.

Strathmore University disclosed that its IT Research Centre would partner with more county governments to deploy the County Pro system.