The county government of Kisumu has partnered with Safaricom to scale up revenue collection in the area.
Through the pact, the devolved unit targets to net Sh. 2.2 billion in the 2023-2024 financial year an increase of Sh. 1.1 billion from the last financial year.
Kisumu County Executive Committee Member (CECM) in charge of Finance, Economic Planning, and E-Government George Okong’o said through the new system, the county plans to go cashless to seal all loopholes in revenue collection.
The county government, he added, continues to lose millions of shillings through cash collections adding that the new system would leverage Safaricom’s different payment options to meet the set target.
“Safaricom is giving us payment solutions through pay bill, mobile application, and USSD code to ensure we go cashless to shore up collections,” he said.
This, he said, was set to cut down losses by a huge margin as the county government moves to solidify source revenue collection.
In an interview with KNA in his office on Wednesday, the CECM said the county government has reviewed property and land rates to help achieve revenue targets.
The rates, which were last reviewed in 2007, he added, have been adjusted to reflect the current market trends to scale up on source revenue.
“We have not had a proper valuation roll for Kisumu since the inception of devolution. We have now submitted the new rates to the County Assembly for approval,” he said.
The development comes amidst pressure on devolved units to scale up on source revenue collections to meet development obligations.
In the 2021-2022 financial year, on-source revenue collection in Kisumu collected sh. 800 million affecting the county’s projected development programmes.
However, according to Okong’o various interventions mooted to scale up collections saw the figure increase to sh. 1.1 billion in the last financial year.
By Chris Mahandara
