Motorists in Nairobi on Wednesday enjoyed free parking after the e-payment platform suffered a technical hitch.
The motorists experienced hitches when using the Nairobi revenue collection USSD code, *647#, which was rolled out last year by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
The hitch comes a day after the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), which collects parking fees on behalf of the Nairobi NMS, asked its parking attendants in the capital city to photograph all vehicles whose drivers fail to pay parking fees.
NMS Enforcement Officer Janet Moraa said that the system was experiencing some problems but urged motorists to keep attempting to make the payment.
“There seems to be a technical hitch which we have no idea what time it will be resolved. There is nothing much we can do as we cannot clamp or penalize anyone as it is not their problem. People might enjoy free parking today,” she told nation. Africa.
In March, KRA was appointed as the principal agent for the overall collection of all county revenue replacing National Bank, which had been collecting revenue on behalf of City Hall after Jamb pay’s contract ended in June 2019.
Since the introduction of the new code, -the old one during Mike Sancho’s era was *235#- motorists have been complaining of getting warning text messages for unpaid parking fees, even when their cars were nowhere near the CBD.
In a statement on Tuesday, the taxman admitted that some motorists had disputed some penalties, prompting it (KRA) to start relying on photographic evidence to avoid such cases.
“The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Nairobi City County government have received numerous complaints from motorists disputing penalties imposed for failure to pay parking fees.
In order to address these complaints, parking attendants in county uniform will henceforth photograph number plates of non-compliant motor vehicles for reference purposes in case of disputes,” KRA said in the public notice.
And in another development, the KRA said all physical VIP parking stickers issued last year were now null and void.
The authority said all the cars with valid stickers would instead have their details on the digital platform.
“The 2021 annual VIP authorized vehicles are now being managed through the Nairobi Revenue System parking. Physical VIP parking stickers will no longer be recognised. KRA parking attendants will henceforth use querying devices to confirm the compliance status of such vehicles” the taxman added.
The KRA last year took over the mandate of collecting all levies and taxes paid to City Hall for two years up to March 16, 2022.
