Oparanya sends revenue clerks on 60 days compulsory leave

Kakamega Country Governor Wycliffe Oparanya addressing County Executive members and Sub-County Administrators at the county headquarters on August 6, 2019. Oparanya sent his revenue clerks officers compulsory leave for 60 days and ordered CECs to take up their responsibility with immediate effect. [Benjamin Sakwa/Standard]

Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya on Tuesday sent all county revenue clerks on 60 days compulsory leave.

Their roles will be executed by community administrators across the 12 sub-counties, the Governor said.

Oparanya has allocated duties to the county executive officers where they will spearhead collection of revenue in sub-counties and submit reports daily.

Following the delay in disbursement of devolved funds, the governor decided to assign the CECs and chief officers roles in ensuring maximum collection of revenue.

He directed the clerks to report to the Public Service Board to be guided on what to do next after their leave has ended.

“I have found out the 143 clerks have never been on leave since 2013 and it’s good they rest."

Speaking on Tuesday at the county office chambers, Oparanya said revenue collection remains a critical element in running of the county.

He said the stalemate between the National government and County governments over shared revenue allocation has left devolved units without funds.

“The issue is before the Senate and the National Assembly. Last time, there was stalemate and mediation team was formed but the senate was insisting on Sh335 billion but later moved to Sh327 billion and the national assembly wanted Sh316 billion allocated to counties,” he said.

Oparanya, who is the Council of Governors chairman, noted that the mediation team collapsed and the provision of the law is that the bill has to be re-introduced in the national assembly.

“This was re-introduced last week and in the process, the Senate also re-introduced their bill of Sh335 billion. This deadlock is not helping counties since we are unable to access any development funds until the matter is resolved. As Council of Governors, ours is to give input,” he said.

He said counties must look ahead because the dependency on shared revenue will not help them.

“What will help us is to enhance our revenue collection. This will help us have the flexibility of planning for more development,” argued Oparanya.

“If you look at our budget, our revenue collection is five per cent and the remaining 95 per cent is received from sharable revenue and conditional grants that we get from the national government. Our objective is to improve our revenue from five per cent to 10 per cent,” he said.

He said all loopholes have been sealed to maximise on their revenue collection to provide proper services to the people within the legal framework as passed on finance act by the county assembly.

“Last year, the revenue collection increased from Sh500 million to Sh890 million. As a county, we have an opportunity to collect as much as Sh1.5 billion without any problem. We have a shortfall of about Sh600 million that we need to collect,” he said adding that the cashless system must be embraced since its being emulated in most countries.

Oparanya emphasised that the cashless system must work and the county executives must report to him daily on their sub-county collection.

“You must establish proper reporting procedure. Those employed as casuals will continue working to support the community administrators and give enforcement. All revenue process must be documented from the community up to the municipality which are the major streams of revenue,” he said.

Oparanya is optimistic with all measures put in place, the county will be able to meet its budget of Sh1.3 billion by the end of the year.