President Uhuru Kenyatta has issued a directive for the creation of a single system of revenue collection to eliminate duplications and wastage of resources.
He said the new system will be used across the 47 County Governments and will be integrated with National Government systems.
President Kenyatta said currently counties are using 11 different revenue collection systems, which are not integrated with those used by the National Government or even those used by other counties.
“The bottom line is, this has severely limited the amount of revenue collected by the counties,” said the President.
He spoke at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre where he was updated on the progress of a multi-agency geospatial mapping project of Kenya.
“To eliminate this duplication of efforts and waste of resources, I hereby direct the Commission on Revenue Allocation, the Council of Governors, the National Treasury and the Kenya Revenue Authority to form a Multi-Agency Team whose principal aim shall be to deliver on a single revenue collection system, that is integrated with National Government Systems and to be used across all 47 Counties,” the President ordered.
He said the taskforce working on the revenue collection system must take into account the work done by the Multi-Agency Team on Joint National Resource Mapping Project.
The mapping task force did a presentation on the progress it has achieved so far at very minimal costs as compared to what it would have cost tax payers if private firms were contracted for the job.
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru said the team has already produced 75 maps of the country including some that will help the National Government and counties enhance revenue collection and utilization.
The maps that will come in handy for counties to collect revenue contain details of all businesses and all license paying premises.
“If revenue collection systems are integrated with the map, it will be easy, for example, to know who has paid land rates,” the President observed.
“This Multi-Agency Team has thus far updated 75 topographical maps and drawn six full county maps, in addition to digitizing the cadastral plans for Nairobi City County,” the President added as he observed that the digitised map of Nairobi heralds a new era for the city.
President Kenyatta said the multi-agency task force has saved billions of shillings of taxpayers money that would have been paid out if foreign or local private companies hired for the work.
“Our initial projections had indicated that the production of a single map sheet would cost us Sh148 million. However, the multi-agency team has produced them for Sh70,000 each,” said the President.
He added, “Initial estimates for the nationwide airborne geophysical survey indicated that the project would cost the country Sh7 billion; but, through pooling of resources from different ministries and agencies, we have cut that cost to Sh2 billion.”
President Kenyatta said the geospatial mapping project will be completed by November 2020 and will provide government agencies with the necessary data to spur enhanced and more efficient delivery of their mandates.
He said the private sector will also derive tremendous benefits through opening up opportunities in infrastructure development, e-commerce, extractive industries and the 24-hour economy.
President Kenyatta said the quick success in the mapping project is as a result of the multiagency approach as it drew representation from a broad spectrum of government agencies and departments..
“The present case is the latest in a long string of successes for multi-agency teams. Leveraging on synergies and competencies of our various agencies and the economies of scale, we have secured encouraging results for the nation,” the Head of State said.
The President said great success has been achieved by multi-agency teams in a number of flagship national projects including LAPSSET, SGR, the Blue Economy, Immigration and Border Security, Counter-Terrorism and Environmental Conservation and Rejuvenation.
The Head of State commended the Kenya Defence Forces for their contribution to the success of the project and urged the disciplined forces to be part of all initiatives aimed at transforming the country.
Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya who is also the Chairman of the Council of Governors, said resource mapping will help county governments enhance revenue collection.
He urged counties to adopt the option of cooperation, collaboration and dialogue in serving the public and working closely with the national government.