Questions have been raised over the failure of the ad hoc committee on the Decline of Revenue Collection in Nairobi to table reports over the loss of billions of shillings by the county amid fears of blatant pilferage and revenue leakage of taxpayers’ money.
This comes months after the committee held sittings, retreated, and wrote a report that is yet to be tabled at the Nairobi County Assembly even after the lapse of its operation period and extension.
Worse still, against the backdrop of fears that the committee could have been compromised, more questions than answers have come to the fore after the committee was accused of being paid allowances for the sittings and retreats that they held within and outside the country during the committee hearings and report writing yet the report has never been tabled in the assembly.
Investigations by The Informer Media Group indicate that the committee held approximately thirteen sittings plus several retreats in Naivasha, Mombasa, and Arusha Tanzania.
A source privy to the details told The Informer Media Group that even though the committee went to Arusha for a retreat, they never held a single sitting there.
Effectively, they were paid from public coffers unjustifiably.
“The members of that committee were paid millions of money. In Naivasha, they had around three to four sittings while they had one in Mombasa and Arusha. Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) circular indicates that committee members receive a cap of Sh62,400 for monthly sitting while the vice chairperson and chairperson get a cap of a monthly allowance of Sh 83, 200 and Sh104, 000 respectively.” The source who sought anonymity revealed to us.
“For Naivasha, the allowance is normally around Sh15,000 per day totaling to approximately Sh104, 000 and in Arusha they received around half a million.” The source added.
It is not yet clear why the report is yet to be table with leaders of trade blaming the failure of the report seeing the limelight.
Previously, the thirteen-member committee headed by the majority leader had accused the county executive of meddling with their work.
“I am aware of the mobilization by the county executive to derail the finding of this committee and the report by having sittings with some committee members.” Makongeni Member of County Assembly (MCA) Peter Imwatok previously stated.
Imwatok also served as the ad hoc committee chairman and doubles as the Leader of the Majority at the Nairobi County Assembly.
Impeccable sources privy to the details disclosed that the report was not tabled after interference from ‘external forces.’
“We did not table the report because there have been outside forces who have been trying to persuade us from tabling it for adoption due to the recommendations in there.” The source told us on condition of anonymity.
The report seen by The Informer Media Group indicates that Nairobi City County lost a total of Sh5billion in revenue between 2019 and 2022 and could be losing even more as new details emerged on the controversy surrounding the city’s revenue collection.
According to the investigation report, the county collected Sh9.4 billion in revenue for the financial year of 2019/2020 but it declared Sh8.4billion as its source revenue.
In 2021/2022, the county collected Sh10.7 billion but they declared Sh9.9billion.
The report indicates that there was a variation in the amounts collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) over the same period.
According to NBK, for the FY 2019/20, the county collected Sh9.8 billion but KRA reported Sh8.4 billion leading to a variation of Sh1.4 billion. In 2020/21 NBK recorded a collection of Sh11.2 billion but KRA reported Sh9.7 billion with a difference of 1.5 billion.
“The committee observed that revenues reported by NCCG could be lacking basis and supportive evidence. The revenues collected by KRA materially differ with those reported by NCCG even if liquor collections and hospital charges are excluded.” The report states in part.
The Makongeni MCA-led committee also noted that levies and charges directed to a separate Pay Bill No.6060047 were not reconciled with the other revenues collected. Details further show that a total of Sh22 million was withdrawn from the County Revenue Fund without approval from the controller of budget (CoB).
The report recommended that the Sakaja-led administration should be held accountable for operating the Nairobi Revenue Service (NRS) whose identity remains unknown and has never been audited.
It stated that the administration should be held culpable for any losses incurred.
Further, they faulted the executive for limiting the Nairobi Revenue Authority (NRA) a body established to assist revenue mobilization activities.
The report which was completed in April has never been tabled for months later and two months to one year since the committee was formed.
Senior Nairobi County officials said the people mentioned in the report are the ones responsible for the loss of revenue in the county.
Asked about the report, Nairobi City County Assembly Speaker Kennedy Ngondi said his deputy Paul Kados is the one in charge of the Liaison Committee and the ad hoc committee chair who was in charge of the report.
Before the formation of the adhoc committee, the Sectorial Committee on Information Communication Technology (ICT) had set up a probe on the matter of revenue collection, where the servers are located, and who was in charge but the matter also ended in disarray with the committee also failing to table the report.
The ICT chairman Fredrick Njogu accused external sources of sabotaging them.
