Meru goes digital to plug revenue leaks

Meru County government has upgraded its cashless revenue system to allow residents to pay for all licences and fees at the comfort of their phones.

To pay for parking and other licences in Meru, residents are required to use the USSD Code *412# on their phones. 

Payments can also be done through Paybill 440112 as well as via the county government bank account.

The Meru County Revenue Board (MCRB) procured a more robust cashless revenue system from Craft Silicon after the expiry of Jambo Pay’s five-year contract.

"Taxpayers should note that we have changed our USSD code and all payments should be done through *412#. The new system is more advanced as payments reflect on our computers immediately the money hits the account," said the Revenue Board chief executive officer, Edward Macharia.

Services that can be paid for via the USSD code include parking, single business permits, cess, market fees, property rent, advertising fees, branding fees, distribution fees, among others.

Mr Macharia says the Meru County government is digitising all its revenue records to enable cashless payment of fees and licences under its 24 income streams.

The board is working towards tripling revenue collections to Sh1 billion annually after onboarding land rates payment in the new system.

“Currently, we are working on digitising the land rates and plot rates, which are largely manual. This will be possible after the lands department finalises development of a county valuation roll. The development of the valuation roll is supported by FAO,” Mr Macharia says.

He says the automation of revenue payment systems has greatly reduced losses and leakages.

“In the current financial year, we are eying to raise up to Sh600 million up from Sh384 million in the previous year. This is because the new revenue system has improved features that enable for real-time monitoring of payments and personnel,” the CEO says.

The County Revenue Board General Manager Francis Mungai says the revenue system also gives visibility of defaulters easing enforcement of revenue collection across the county.

Mr Mungai says the board alone is capable of collecting more than Sh1 billion after full digitisation of land rates.

In the previous year, Meru County government's own source revenue, including hospital fees and alcoholic drinks licences, stood at Sh1.03 billion.

“The board is owed more than Sh500 million in land rates alone. This is because it has been difficult to enforce payment without an updated valuation roll. Automation of land rates will significantly boost local revenue,” Mr Mungai says.

An assessment by the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) found that the Meru County government had the potential to raise up to Sh3 billion locally.

The CRA projects that Meru county can raise more than Sh260 million from property rates up from the Sh50 million collected annually.