In December last year, Kenya’s county of Kiambu decided to automate its receipting system in order to provide an effective and more efficient way to pay taxes and in return generate more revenue for the county.
Through the receipting system, taxpayers in the county are provided with a single view receipt of their tax payments offered through a single master record for each citizen in order to promote consistency and visibility.
Now, the County has announced that it has recorded an increase in revenue collection of up to double the amount it did before the automation system was set up and began its operations in December.
According to the county, before the introduction of the Automated Receipting, the county collected less than KSh300,000 compared to over KSh450,000 being collected at the moment daily in Thika Sub-county alone.
Happy with the results of the automated receipting system, the County has encouraged other counties to establish such systems in order to grow the economies of their regions through providing fast and more effective ways to carry out operations.
Following the announcement of increased revenue and in the same spirit of introducing new ways of doing things, the county has also introduced what it is calling its Huduma Program, where it will allow citizens to pay their bills through Mpesa and Airtel money.
We all know how the Huduma centres introduced to the country have changed how people get government services today, especially in the immigration sector. Through the centres, which have also been set up in the county levels and continue to be set up, people now access services faster.
The new system that has been introduced for residents in Kiambu seeks to perform almost the same functions, only in this case it will be to assist people in making payments for their bills, levies and any other fee being made to the county.
Through this initiative, county members will be provided with a free of charge card to make it easier to pay the fees in a faster and more effective way than it was before.
Also through the Huduma program will be a one stop shop where people can go to do their registration and access government services as well as make enquiries.
