Embu County Government is rolling out an automatic revenue collection system that is expected to seal all loopholes for revenue pilferage.
Governor Cecily Mbarire said the system developed in collaboration with the Ministry of ICT and Safaricom will make it possible to monitor revenue collected in real time.
She said her government’s revenue collection grew from Sh 350 to Sh 679 million in the last one year and automating the system is expected to grow it further to Sh 1 billion.
The governor was speaking at her boardroom Wednesday morning when she witnessed the swearing in of the first Embu County Revenue Authority (ECRA) Board members.
The board was established by the enactment of a law by the Embu County assembly four years ago but has never been constituted until now.
The Board will be headed by Eng Benson Kinga who will be chairman, while the members include the County Solicitor Kimani Karanja, Ms Jennifer Nyaga, Sophie Kaburu, James Ireri, Eric Njeru, Duncan Nyaga Muratia and Damiano Muthee, who is the County Chief Officer for Finance.
Ms. Mbarire put the county’s revenue officers on notice that forthwith, any of them found collecting revenue in cash will be summarily dismissed, saying the time when the county government entertained cases was over.
She cited cess collection points, markets, bus and car parks as some of the notorious revenue loss risk areas and said officers in those departments will need to pull up their socks.
By Steve Gatheru
