Counties bank on automation to boost revenue collection

County governments collected Sh35.2 billion in revenues in the 2015/2016 financial year the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) has said.

According to CRA this was an improvement of 3.5 percent from the previous financial year as counties embrace technology to collect revenue.

CRA Chairman Micah Cheserem said most counties had automated revenue collection making it easier to collect revenue.

“We’re beginning to realize the innovative use of ICT is solidly contributing to effectively manage revenue collection while at the same time sealing revenue leakages and address other gaps in the devolved county governments,” Mr Cheserem said.

The Commission has been working with the county governments to put in place policy and legislative frameworks to enable them to collect revenue; and to widen their sources of revenue.

Mr Cheserem said a number of counties still experience revenue leakages due to manual collection.

‘’We expect to identify ways to seal revenue leakages to bring out the benefits of collaborative shared ICT systems services within and outside the county government for cost effective service delivery,’’ he said.

CRA is set to host a conference for county governments in partnership with the Ministry of ICT to deliberate on data driven decision making for own revenue growth and discuss the procurement process of ICT systems in the public sector.

The conference will also assess the status and impact of integrated revenue management systems in devolved governments, innovation in public services and challenges and opportunities, security, audit and control of financial management systems in the public sector.