Nairobi City County's On-Source revenue grows to Ksh.12.9 billion

Nairobi,

Tuesday, 17 September, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

City Hall has make a significant improvement in it's internal revenue basket growing from Ksh 9.23 billion to Ksh 12.20 billion between 2022 and 2024.

This comes after the implementation of the unified single business permit by Governor Sakaja Johnson which streamline revenue streams and make it easy for businesses to operate and comply.

Nairobi Governor Johnson A. Sakaja has commended the Sub-County and ward Administrators for their input in revenue collection and urged them to continue carrying out their mandate without fear or bias.

City hall has taken significant steps in increasing revenues stream and closing revenue leakages by modernizing revenue collection through a strict “No Cash” policy.

“I want to inform all Nairobians that, from now on, we will not be accepting any cash payments. If any member of my revenue team requests payment in cash, please report them to 0738 041 292, and we will take immediate action. 

Legitimate County staff members will not ask for cash payments. Furthermore, enforcement activities will commence in February. No staff member is authorized to enforce any collections this month. We are using this month as a transition period to fully implement the Unified Business Permit (UBP) system,” stated Governor Sakaja recently announced.

Transitioning to a cashless system has helped to reduce corruption cases in City hall and making sure all revenues are accurately accounted for.

This cashless policy also marked a significant move towards modernizing revenue collection methods and ensuring transparency in the process.

Significant increments in single business permits, land rates and building permits have largely contributed to a steady revenue rise.

The growth is also attributed to increased parking fees, market rates and widened tax base on those paying land rates to raise internal collections.

The highest amount city hall has ever collected on source revenue in a full financial year is 10.9 billion in the year June 2019.

Collections from SBPs jumped to 1.79 billion from 1.29 billion, a rise of 38.7 percent followed by building permits which jumped 33 percent to 0.917 billion while land rates grew by 21% to 2.63 billion.

SBPs, parking fees and land rates are the three leading revenue streams for city hall accounting to 57 percent of all revenue stream in each financial year. 

The County has also introduced Unified Business Permit which consolidates various licenses, including those for business, fire, food, health, and advertising, into a single permit. 

This is a departure from the past, where traders were required to obtain multiple licenses for each specific business, even if owned by the same entity.