Nairobi County collects Sh 484 Million through Jambo Pay, hopes to make more

Jambo Pay CEO Danson Muchemi (right) meets Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero (left) and his deputy Jonathan Mueke during the launch of the e-payment system in July. INSET: Nairobi City County parking attendants at work. [PHOTOS: FILE/STANDARD]

Nairobi; Kenya: The Nairobi County government has collected Sh484 million revenue through the e-payment system since it was launched a few months ago.

The new system has seen Governor Evans Kidero's government make Sh271,282,580 from seasonal parking, house rents have brought in Sh53,225,784 and land rates Sh53,330,920 among other revenue avenues.

The e-payment system, aimed at sealing loopholes that saw the defunct Nairobi City Council lose revenue, was one of the projects introduced under an umbrella dubbed Integrated County Management System (ICMS).

It was meant to reduce the handling of money by the county officers while at the same time offering a convenient and reliable way for Nairobi residents to pay what they owe the county government.

TIME TAKEN

This is also expected to reduce the amount of time taken to acquire licences and reduce corruption cases at the county hall.

In an interview with The Standard, Dr Kidero's office details the different stages of implementation in each project.

The governor says one can now get and renew single business permits, pay for seasonal and daily parking tickets as well as pay land rates, market fees and house rent online.

Kidero said his government has also finished the web portal project that was recently launched to offer an updated and rebranded web site to ensure projects such as the e-payment were a success.

The new look website was funded by the World Bank through the Kenya ICT Authority and is meant to run for three years.

Employees of the county have already received training on the new web portal, which integrates informational, interactive and transactional modules.

"Nairobi County government also has a project in the pipeline to ensure unified communication which will cover a telephone Private Automatic Branch Exchange (PABX), an automatic telephone switching system, email, fax and video conferencing," Kidero said in an email communication with The Standard.

The governor, however, said before the project is launched, the contractor will first have to review the current infrastructure.

"The expected activities under this project will be the supply and delivery of PABX and video conferencing equipment, configuration, testing and commissioning. The submission deadline for the bids was October 1, 2014," he added.

Under the project, the county government wants a reliable e-mail solution for collaboration and communication.

"The inception meeting was held on May 26 and the review of current infrastructure has been completed. Over 814 users have already been created and expect to have at least 1,000 users," he added.

Kidero said bids are currently being evaluated to acquire what they call a transformative partner who will provide technical advisory services to support the implementation of the identified information technology services in the ICT transformation road map.

WORLD BANK

The partner will also carry out project management within identified projects defined in the ICT transformation road map and provide change management and capacity building services.

One of the projects under the road map awaiting implementation is the putting up of an ICT infrastructure that includes a data centre, to host identified systems and network coverage to all the county government's service delivery points.

The tender to put the infrastructure in place, with funding from the World Bank, was awarded to both Safaricom and Telkom Kenya.

Kidero said his government will ensure internet connectivity for its vital sites to complete the digital dream.

City Hall and Annex, the fire station, Macmillan Library, Karen, City mortuary, Dandora, Umoja and Highway sections have already been connected.

All these projects, the governor said, are geared towards ensuring seamless service delivery under the Nairobi County's government's seven-pillar service delivery strategy.

The pillars include better health, water, sanitation, better transport, housing and infrastructure among others.