42 counties miss revenue targets
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o at a past function.
The setting of unrealistic revenue targets coupled with restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 saw county governments record a drop in own source revenue collections in the last financial year.
In her report for the 2020/21 financial year, the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o noted that only five counties achieved or surpassed their set targets.
Turkana County collected Sh209.8 million against a target of Sh175 million while Tana River collected Sh 83 million against a Sh72.6 million target.
Uasin Gishu managed to collect Sh1.1 billion against an annual target of Sh991 million while Lamu and Migori collected Sh108 million and Sh288.5 million respectively against their targets of Sh100 million and Sh285 million.
Out of the 42 counties that did not achieve their targets, Wajir, Narok, Nyandarua, Embu and Busia counties did not manage to collect half.
Cumulatively, the 47 county governments generated Sh34.44 billion, which was 64.2 per cent of the annual target of Sh53.66 billion.
It was a decrease compared to Sh35.77 billion generated in the previous 2019/2020 financial year.
“The under-performance of own source revenue collection implies that some planned activities may not be implemented,” the report indicated.
In the 2019/2020 financial year five counties, Homa Bay, Taita Taveta, Machakos, Lamu and Bomet, achieved their annual targets while Meru, Nandi, Busia, Siaya, Wajir, Kajiado, and Kisii counties recorded below 50 per cent against annual targets.
