Laikipia County government has recorded a 16 per cent growth in revenue collection for the just-ended third quarter this year.
Laikipia Revenue Board Chief Executive Officer Prudence Waithera said that the county had recorded a remarkable collection of Sh667, 873,507 million surpassing the previous years’ collection of Sh 575,871,509 by 16 per cent.
Speaking Monday while releasing the financial results, the Revenue Board CEO attributed the growth in Own Source Revenue (OSR) to improvement in key revenue streams for the devolved unit that included health service fees, vehicle parking management, cess fees and land subdivision among others.
“Own source revenue growth has translated to major developments in the county, which includes upgrading and rebranding of Laikipia Heath Service, smart towns initiatives in Nanyuki, Nyahururu, Rumuruti, Ol jabet and Kinamba towns, and other development that include infrastructural and water projects,” Waithera said.
She expressed optimism that the County government’s target for this financial year in revenue collection would hit the projected Sh 1 billion. adding that measures had been put in place to guard against the pilfering of monies collected by automating and digitizing all payment platforms and making payments cashless.
“The growth is not because we have expanded our revenue base or increased fees and charges, but because we have streamlined our services thus bringing the success in collections,” Ms Waithera said.
County Executive Committee Member for Finance and Economic Planning Murungi Ndai who was also present attributed the improvement in revenue collection to goodwill from local business people in paying for licenses and permits.
“One of the sections that give us most the collections is licenses and permits and our traders are continuing to pay, for the liquor licenses we have extended the payment period up to the end of May this year so that all can be brought on board and I believe the Sh1 billion target shall be achieved,” Ndai said.
By Martin Munyi
