CRA's Micah Cheserem calls for review of State jobs to cut costs

Commission on Revenue Allocation Chairman Micah Cheserem has said parallel and conflicting structures within the provincial administration should be abolished.

The CRA boss said this will go a long way in reducing the national government’s wage bill.

Mr Cheserem told a forum in Mombasa yesterday that there are too many officials within the provincial administration system appointed by the national government competing for power and relevance with ward administrators and other officials appointed by the counties.

Cheserem said this has created a wasteful and unnecessary replication of roles without improving service delivery.

“The national government has regional coordinators, county commissioners, deputy commissioners and sub-county commissioners while the counties have ward administrators. These parallel systems should be streamlined. One must be collapsed,” he said.

THE CONSTITUTION

Cheserem also said the representation system created by the 2010 Constitution should be revisited to ensure it is affordable and called for a reduction in the number of nominated MCAs in counties.

He said the Kenya Police Service should consider having the Administration Police wing under county governments to ensure security and enforcement of laws at the grassroots.

Speaking at a Mombasa hotel yesterday, Cheserem said to date, there are 777 nominated women MCAs serving in the 47 counties with each drawing up to Sh1 million in emoluments and other benefits paid to them.

“Money given to county governments should mainly go towards development. There is need to have the society elect more women directly into elective posts so that political parties cannot be compelled to nominate women as MCAs as is the case currently,” he said.

Cheserem was speaking during the official opening of a two-day 2nd County Revenue Automation Conference 2016 presided over by Kiambu Governor William Kabogo.

The conference brings together the CRA, the ICT Authority of Kenya and implementers of financial management and policies in all the 47 counties.

AUTOMATED SYSTEM

On ICT usage, Cheserem said introduction and continued use of ICT infrastructure has seen counties move from manual revenue collection to automated systems, contributing to enhanced income streams and provision of services.

Kericho County, for instance, has over the past year introduced CCTV surveillance at its revenue collection points to support its structured automated collection.

Kisumu on the other hand has fully automated its Single Business Permit applications, earning accolades from the World Bank.