City Hall revenue doubles as Governor Sonko crackdown intensifies

Governor Mike Sonko

The city county revenue has gone up in the wake of a crackdown on cartels who are accused of siphoning money from the coffers.

In the first two weeks of September 2017, cash collection rose from just below Sh200 million to Sh467 million as the county moved to seal loopholes that facilitated sleaze.

A Revenue Report for 01/09-15/09/2017 prepared by acting head of revenue Agnes Kisaka shows that total banking was recorded at Sh532,296,125, of which Sh240,595,897.00 was obtained through Jambo pay.

The records indicate that on September 7, the county had the highest collection of Sh99,752,831.68, an indication that the county can meet the Sh100 million daily collection projections set by Governor Mike Sonko.

Initially, records at City Hall indicated that about Sh14 million is collected daily from 14 streams while revenue from the other 122 couldn’t be corroborated. The new administration has vowed to automate all the streams to ensure no money is lost and the public gets value for tax money.

Impromptu visits

Last month, Sonko conducted an impromptu visit to the cash office where he unearth major rot, with a discovery of Sh7 million that had not been banked. The governor then moved to suspend seven staff and requested the director of criminal investigations to commence investigations.

A team of 16 investigators appointed by Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro led by Dagorreti DCIO Joseph Ondoro have been combing City Hall since then and have so far taken statements from over 150 county employees as the probe intensifies.

Yesterday, Sonko said he was still working towards streamlining all the revenue streams through digitisation of payments.

“Our target is to collect Sh3 billion per month. Indeed from the two weeks, if we have realised about a half a billion just from the 14 revenue streams. It means we can achieve our target once the automation of all the 136 streams is done,” he said.

During swearing-in ceremony, Sonko promised to transform Nairobi and return it to its former glory as the 'City in the Sun', and make it one of the most beautiful cities in Africa. This, he said, is on course.

No more cash crunch

“The county government will soon be sustainable and you will not hear workers going on strike due to delays in salary payments or poor service delivery attributed to lack of cash. The county will put in place a mechanism to ensure all the monies collected are put in proper use while the corrupt will not be spared,” he added.