Monday February 9, 2015 | BUSINESS DAILY

11

COUNTY BUSINESS
NEWS | FEATURES | ANALYSIS

Kiinyaga adopts electonic

levy payment to seal leakages
EARNINGS County aims to raise annual revenue collection by 67pc
BY ALLAN ODHIAMBO
KIRINYAGA

Kirinyanga aims to boost its annual revenue collection by about 67 per cent and
reduce dependence on nancing from
the national government, as it starts operations on an automated system.
The county projects to grow its annual revenue to about Sh500 million
under the new system that started
operating last month, up from Sh300
million.
The automated platform makes
it easier for payment of dues which
is vital in boosting overall collection,
Murimi Murage, the county executive
for Finance told Business Daily.
Kirinyagas revenue and nancial
management system is based on a
platform supported by mid-tier ABC
Bank and the countys second largest

savings and credit cooperative society

(sacco), Fortune.
Under the system, those seeking
to pay for various services including
licence fees, levies and other charges
have the option to pay through a mobile
phone-based paybill number or make
deposits through Fortune Sacco and
ABC Bank outlets and points of sale
devices countrywide.

Absentee landlords
The concept is to make payment of
services and levies universal so that people can conveniently pay from wherever they are, the governor, Joseph
Ndathi, said.
Fortune Sacco has 96,234 members
and an asset base of Sh1.33 billion, according the 2013 supervision report by
the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA).
Collection of land rates has over the

years been dicult in Kirinyaga due to

a large number of absentee landlords
in the diaspora and the inconvenience
of making physical trips to county ofces for payment of dues.
With the option of points of sale devices, those in the diaspora will be able
to clear their dues by using their credit
cards and this should work to improve
overall performance of revenue collection, Mr Murage said.
The Controller of Budgets Oce in
a recent budget implementation report
for Kirinyaga urged the county leadership to identify new revenue streams
and streamline collection.
The county government should
exploit available opportunities to supplement allocations from the national
government. Optimal implementation
of the budget depends on availability
of funds therefore eciency in revenue collection is critical, Controller

Gaissa milk vendos push fo

pocessing plant to cut losses

Kirinyaga governor Joseph Ndathi during the ground-breaking ceremony for

construction of a new county headquarters at Kutus last year. JOSEPH KANYI
of Budget, Agnes Odhiambo said in a
review. Expansion of revenue bases,
improvement in record keeping and
sealing of leakages should be pursued
to ensure adequate resources are received on a timely basis so as to fully
implement the budget with minimal
drawbacks, she said.
To boost development, the county
government said it would strive to keep
recurrent expenditure in the current
nancial year.
Recurrent expenditure should not
exceed 70 per cent of the departments
budget with exception of the County
Assembly due to nature of their operations, the county said in a circular

on its budget plans for the year. The

county government will continue with
the policy of expenditure rationalisation with a view to funding only core
services and reducing wastage through
the elimination of duplication and ineciencies,
Most counties have been criticised
for not allocating sucient funds towards development projects, hurting
their overall growth.
A new report released by the World
Bank last week showed that only 10
counties spent at least 30 per cent of
their budgets on development projects
last year.
aodhiambo@ke.nationmedia.com

GOLF ESTATES

BY ABDIMALIK HAJIR
GARISSA

Milk vendors in Garissa are

piling pressure on the county
government to partner with
New KCC to boost the regions
processing capacity to cut farmers losses.
The vendors said they currently distribute about 700
crates which is three per cent
of the total milk consumed in
the county.
The two main distributors in
Garissa, Mr Mohamed Bukhari
and Mr Omar Sadik Mohammed, said 97 per cent of the milk
is from cows or camels, noting
that most people in northern
Kenya are pastoralists.
A large quantity of milk goes
to waste and the county government should work in partnership with KCC to provide infrastructure and land for a milk
processing plant here, said
Mr Omar.
Among the vendors are 39
youths who have come together
to distribute milk in the town
and mobilise resources for

in East Africa

A section of Garissa small-scale milk traders at the handing over of

newly constructed market sheds. FILE
other joint ventures. Mr Omar
said the business had uplifted
many jobless young people who
would have been waiting for elusive white collar jobs, noting that
these small traders would earn
more from milk if there was a
processing plant to buy it
This is an opportunity for
the county government to partner with the New KCC so that
unemployed youth can secure

jobs and pastoralist can get market for their raw milk that goes
to waste, he added.
Mr Omar appealed to the
New KCC Board chairman
Matu Wamae to consider setting up such a plant.
Mr Bukhari said camels
produce large quantities of
milk and that livestock keepers
would benet from a modern
storage facility.

The EastAfrican, the region`s only authoritative newspaper and www.theeastafrican.co.ke, will on
21st February, 2015, publish a feature on Golf estates and Luxury Homes in East Africa.
Other topics to be discussed will be:
Emerging trends in Interior design and Landscaping
Golf Estate and luxury homes developers in the region
Prime locations and available high end real estate in the region
To advertise contact:
Mercy Barasa on Cell: 0734 960 644
and Email mbarasa@ ke.nationmedia.com.