Audit shows how workers swindle county of revenue

Kisumu County loses millions of shillings in revenue to cartels in the licensing and revenue receipting departments every financial year.

Financial audit by the administration revealed that while the county has the capacity to collect over Sh1.5 billion every year, they only manage between Sh800 million and Sh900 million.

Some staff post receipts twice while others use duplicated receipts, to swindle the county of cash.

Two years ago, the county introduced Electronic Trade Licensing to collect revenue across the county.

But it emerged that most revenue clerks still lacked the requisite skills to manage electronic system effectively.

After automation of revenue collection by former Governor Jack Ranguma’s administration, revenue collection increased by about 12.5 per cent.

Through the electronic system, the county realised an increase of Sh200 million in revenue collection from the initial Sh900 million to Sh1.1 billion a year.

Following the revelations, the authorities have now called for fresh bids to enlist the support of technocrats versed with digital revenue systems to help them train staff on ETL.

County secretary Olango Onudi said they want to implement a revenue collection system that would be cost effective to ensure transparency.

“We want to put a system that will ensure transparency and accountability in all our revenue streams collections, embedded with data security and reliability,” Dr Onudi said

Already, they have invited bids for expression of interest seeking to recruit IT experts to help implement the revenue automation services.

He disclosed that they want to introduce cashless payment platforms with an option for transfers in case of system downtime. “We are going to map revenue sources, including real estate property, marketstalls and integrate the services through geographical information systems,” Onudi explained. The county also targets to create an interactive customer portal to allow citizens to pay for services online.

“We are seeking IT firms with capability to provide enabled GPS devices with tracking capabilities to be able to take high definition (HD) images,” he said.

The firms will also be required to set up a single revenue secure database, all standard financial statements and each fiscal year reports on progress

The county government also wants to ride on revenue automation to deploy a revenue collection system that will include outdoor advertsising, land rates, health and parking fees.

Kisumu deputy governor Mathews Owili said they are committed with the Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o to introduce measures to scale up revenue collection.

“We will not tolerate untoward behavior in revenue collection. Staff who steal from us will be penalised,” said Owili.