Nairobi City County still uses a bank account opened by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and taxman officials are still part of the signatories of the account, The Informer Media Group has learnt.
This was revealed during the public hearing when the Chief Cashier of Nairobi City County Shadrack Nyamai presented his submissions before the ad hoc committee on Revenue Collection.
Nyamai stated that the accounts were opened by the national government revenue collector during their tenure as the revenue collectors of the county were never deactivated and are the ones that are currently being used despite the transfer of deeds.
He added that he has never received a reconciliation of closing the accounts.
“The county government of Nairobi still uses KRA accounts and as the cashier of the county, I confirm that. We are still using the accounts under the KRA initials as they were never closed despite the deed of transfer coming to an end.” Nyamai revealed.
The committee established that the committee is still run as it was during the KRA tenure.
“The initials are KRA Nairobi Revenue Collection Account under the cooperative bank and also for equity bank. Even when a customer goes to pay, that is the narration from the bank.” He said.
The cashier said the officers at KRA are still the signatories of the account and the chief officer in charge of Finance Asha Abdi and the Head of Treasury Martha Wambugu were also introduced to be a signatory of the same accounts.
“KRA officers are the ones who opened the accounts and even upto date they are still the signatories. Our Chief Officer and head of county treasury were also introduced as the signatories of the accounts though still the mandatory signatories are the KRA officials. ” Nyamai.
Agostino Mutambari and another KRA official who was not mentioned before the committee are the signatories of the county revenue accounts from the KRA side.
He clarified that the two do not transact anything on behalf of the county saying that the accounts are only for collection.
KRA officials who are said to be led by Anastacia Githumba, the deputy director of KRA were forwarded to the county even after the end of the NMS tenure.
Even though Nyamai has earlier stated that the county had only two accounts for revenue collection, it was established that in September an account at the National Bank of Kenya which was being used during the tenure of Nouveta was activated and is also being used currently.
The Head of Treasury Martha Wambugu and Chief Officer Asha Abdi are the signatories of the account.
This is contrary to the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act which stipulates that for a revenue account to be opened, approval has to be done by the county assembly with a letter from the Chief Officer of Finance and Economic Planning which was not done.
“The PFM Act states that for the county to open a new revenue account, the assembly needs to be notified and approved after receiving a letter from the Chief Officer of Finance and Economic Planning. Even the signatories need to be approved by the assembly.” Johnson Akongo.
Since September last year when the account was activated, the county requested today for full access to the account for them to view the statements and remittance of the revenue.
It is not sure what the reasons and purpose of the activation of the account are.
“The accounts were supposed to be closed but they were not closed.” Nyamai told the committee.
Another account at the National Bank 01071225700 which was also opened during their tenure was not closed but is not currently used for revenue collection.
The public hearing by the ad hoc committee was closed yesterday after the committee got views from the public and representatives of the various sectors of the county.
They are expected to meet the Kenya Revenue Authority team today.
