Fears over delayed Nairobi county revenue collection

Ad hoc Committee chairperson Peter Imwatok. [File, Standard]

A report by a special committee investigating dwindling revenue collection in Nairobi has become subject of debate by a section of leaders and residents.

The 13 member Ad hoc Committee formed in November 2023 by the Nairobi County Assembly was supposed to table the report in 60 days.

However, four months later the report is yet to be tabled in the assembly.

The committee chaired by Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok held several sittings and invited witnesses to probe ownership of Nairobi Revenue System which was said to be opaque and contained loopholes in revenue collection.

For several days the committee spend taxpayer’s money promising to unearth the rot in the system.

More than ten months since the committee began its sittings some residents through a lawyer have written to the County Assembly Speaker Kennedy Ng’ondi and the committee members seeking to know why the tabling and publishing of the report has been delayed.

“On April 2, 2024, you informed the assembly that you had indeed received the report of the committee (the Report) and informed the assembly that you were still perusing the report,” the letter to the Speaker reads in part.

“We note, with surprise, that it is now over four months since you confirmed receipt of the report, you are yet to table it to the assembly,”

When the 60 days’ deadline lapsed, the Ad hoc Committee sought an extension of 45 days which lapsed in March 2024.

The residents in the letter to the Speaker said the delay to table the report was akin to hoarding public information.

“Kindly take note that the investigations concerned collection and administration of local revenue, including the question of dwindling county revenues which has had a direct impact on the development in the county,” the document reads in part.

The letter said residents of Nairobi county had legitimate expectations that as soon as the report was submitted to the Speaker, he ought to have tabled it before the assembly within the prescribed timelines.

Among other issues that should have forced the Speaker to table the report was that the Committee’s work was funded by taxpayers and huge sums were spent during the sittings.

The residents demanded to know the status of the report, the total cost incurred by the committee during the probe, when the report will be tabled in the assembly and made public.

This comes amid reports that the assembly could have gone to bed with the Executive.

However, the Committee Chairman said members have been on recess for more than one month and due process will be followed once the assembly resumes next week.

“The lawyer is right to inquire but the standing orders say the report should be tabled within a session of parliament, anytime the Speaker in his wisdom can call the House and we are ready to expound on the report anytime,” Imwatok said.

The Makongeni Ward MCA said no one can run away from the reality that was unearthed during the proceedings because they were doing it for the good of the county not for anybody to suffer.

“The truth is that there is no system collecting revenue in the county, it is the right of every Nairobi to know what is collected in a transparent manner,” he said.

Despite the recent reports by Governor Sakaja that the county had recorded a 20 per cent increase in revenue collection for the year 2023/2024, Imwatok dismissed the same as amorphous figures.

He said the Sh12.8 billion announced by Sakaja was not audited and unauthenticated and it was unfair to consume the information from an individual's mouth without systematic approval.

“We cannot run away from all that and MCAs cannot be compromised to commit an illegality, every member approved and appended their signatures how will you change that,” Imwatok said.