Adoption of the corporate style of management in Laikipia County government has led to a marked increase in revenue collection in the last two years, Governor Ndiritu Muriithi has said.
Muriithi said his deputy, and most of his county executives and even himself, initially served in various positions in the corporate world and have thus continued to employ management practices that corporations use.
The governor cited the releasing of quarterly financial statements for his government, automation of revenue collection systems and regular engagement with taxpayers as some of the factors that have led to an increase in revenue generated.
Speaking on Thursday at his Nanyuki office during the county financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2019, the governor said that his government had registered a 35 percent growth in revenue collection for the financial year 2018/2019.
A total of Sh. 819 million was collected in the period compared to Sh. 608 million realized in the previous year, he revealed.
“The revenue rose by Sh. 211 million from the previous year marking an improvement in generating own source of revenue,” Muriithi said.
He noted that the revenue stream had continued to grow without increasing taxes to citizens but was driven by increased awareness that paying the requisite rates was crucial to improved service delivery.
“Revenue streams that have shown tremendous improvement include land rates at 143 percent, county natural resources at 82 per cent, technical services at 68 per cent, slaughter fees at 34 per cent, parking fees at 31 per cent, markets and trade fees at 31 per cent and hospital fees at 20 per cent,” he explained.
The governor further observed that as a result of the improvement in revenue collection, more development projects such as grading of access roads, construction of classrooms, drilling of boreholes and issuance of bursaries had been rolled out in all the 15 wards of the county.
By Martin Munyi
