Kiambu hits Sh5.4bn in local revenue collection

When Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi addressed the County Assembly on December 14, 2023. [File, Standard]

The county government of Kiambu collected Sh5.4 billion in own-source revenue in the just concluded financial year, representing an 86 percent rise in local revenue mobilization in the last two years by the regional government.

According to a report generated by the county treasury on its revenue performance for the year ending June 30, the amount is approximately Ksh. 900 million more compared to the Sh4.6 billion collected in the 2024-2025 financial year, which represents a growth of 19 percent.

Governor Kimani Wamatangi said the increase was achieved without increasing existing fees and levies but through prudence after automation of the revenue systems that sealed loopholes that allowed theft at the point of collection.

"The results have been achieved, to a large extent, by automating all our revenue collection processes, and for the first time, revenue collection is managed from a single platform of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)," Wamatangi said during a revenue conference at the county headquarters on Thursday.

He added: "Through ERP, revenue collection is real-time, and all revenue collection points have been mapped into the ERP system. This has enabled us to achieve efficient and real time monitoring of revenue collection."

Since August 2022, when Wamatangi took over as the fourth governor, the county, according to the Controller of Budget financial reports, has been on an upward trajectory in OSR collection, increasing the collection by nearly Sh2 billion in the last two years.

In the 2022/2023 financial year, Sh3.6 billion was collected compared to Sh2.9 billion in the previous year.

The County Chief said the focus was not just on collection but also on ensuring that the funds are utilized prudently, leading to visible and impactful projects and programmes.

From education, where 312 model ECDE centres completed, 36 level four and level three hospitals, installation of solar streetlights and construction of bus parks, agriculture where over 700,000 farmers have received improved kienyeji chicks, piglets, maize, and fertilizer, new markets, and stadiums, the governor said the funds are being put to proper use.

"We are not like that fool reported in the Bible who after getting a talent, they went and slept on it. We endeavor to continue to use the scarce resources that we have to achieve even more development for our residents and improve service delivery to the Kiambu residents," the governor said.

County Executive Committee Member for Finance Nancy Kirumba said the county was targeting to collect Sh7.9 billion in the new financial year.

She said the Department of Finance was committed to providing the technical and operational support required to improve service delivery and realise set the revenue goal.

"The milestone was a result of the automation of revenue collection by the use of the ERP system, which improved our own-source revenue performance and delivered several impactful development projects touching the lives of our residents," she said.