Kisumu unveils first revenue board

By Peter Ochieng

The county government of Kisumu has a revenue board in pace.

It is a 9-member outfit chaired by former Kisumu Central Parliamentary candidate Dr Hezron Otieno MC’Obewa.

The board will work closely with all departments to identify new revenue streams, and meet the envisaged county’s own source revenue targets.

Six members were competitively sourced while three technical staff will include the chief officer finance, the county attorney and the yet to be named Chief Executive Officer to the board.

Board members are Mary Celestine Odhiambo from Nyando, Chandrakant Devji from Kisumu Central, Stephen Ouma from Kisumu East, Mary Apiyo from Kisumu West and Benedict Alala from Nyakach.

The board, with its offices in Milimani was inaugurated on Tuesday by Kisumu deputy governor Mathew Owili, on behalf of governor Anyang’ Nyong’o.

Owili said the team now has a burden of coming up with ways of how to raise Kisumu county’s revenue, from the current Sh1.2 billion to over Sh2 billion annually.

He said board members will receive all the relevant support they need from the executive, to implement their ideas.

“As the executive, we promise you full support. You have full mandate which is anchored in the County Government’s Act to collect revenue for the county and we expect you to be innovative and aggressive,” said Owili.

He said governor Nyong’o expects a high degree of professionalism and integrity from the team.

“We expect the board to help the governor leave a good legacy. Work hard to ensure that the county has a sound revenue base.”

Board chair MC’Obewa assured the county leadership that they will work hard to deliver own source revenue targets.