Nairobi with Sh10 billion annual revenue collection accounts for about a third of the total Sh32.5 billion county revenues. file photo | nmg
Treasury’s latest counties’ revenue collection data for the last financial year raises a number of questions.
First, it points to a growing overreliance by the devolved units on the Exchequer while doing little to grow own revenues.
Even more telling is the continued concentration of economic activity in the capital Nairobi despite efforts to disperse it.
Nairobi with Sh10 billion annual revenue collection accounts for about a third of the total Sh32.5 billion county revenues followed by Kiambu with just over Sh2 billion.
What is most surprising is that the second largest city, Mombasa, only managed to collect Sh320 million.
As a port city that hosts major firms, perhaps Mombasa should be expected not to be doing worse than the deeply rural and less developed counties such as Nyeri, Murang’a, Kakamega, and Meru.
A look at the other counties points to a bigger problem.
Only a few met their revenue targets for the year.
Some, like Mombasa, had targets that were tellingly low yet failed to meet them.
With the performance as is, the future can only be continued pressure on the Exchequer to release more funds.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
