It emerges that Governor Mike Sonko’s administration has pathetic revenue collection team. Theseare not my words.
According to recent reports, Deputy President William Ruto’s office was listed among many other departments that defaulted remitting parking fees amounting to millions.
City Hall has disclosed on Thursday, that tenants residing in over 17,000 county houses in Nairobi owe the county Sh224 million in rent arrears.
Who is to blame?
A budget and appropriations committee on Thursday heard that the tenants of the houses had defaulted to pay for the past five to six years resulting into the revenue target shortfall.
This has consequently affected service delivery. The Robert Mbatia –led committee also heard that tenants from houses located in Maringo and Woodley estates were the biggest defaulters.
Urban Housing and planning director Marion Rono, appearing before the committee, said that the county had so far collected Sh390 million in the first eight months of the current financial year against a target of Sh410 million.
“We are keen on ensuring that we implement mechanisms to recover the Sh224 million owed to us by the tenants in the next six months. ” she said.Committee vice chair, Patrick Karani.
The director, however, stressed that her department had not been able to collect money owed due to challenges such as court cases, failure by the tenants to honor debts, sub-letting and political interference.
In 2018 Nairobi residents living in county houses were threatened to be evicted for non payment of rent arrears amounting to about Sh600 million owed to the County Government of Nairobi.
What should the County do to maximize its revenue collection?